
Class QL 7 95 " 
Book, ,&4//3 
CopigMN 

CUEBRIGHT DEPOSE 




BLACK BRUIN 

The Biography of a Bear 




Black Bruin's First Acquaintance With a Panther 




<7he biography 
of a Bear 



<By 



/?uffior of Shaggy§§&$^ 

Ihe Biography ofs 'Be&vefi; 

%he Trail fo the Woods. 
Tenants offfie Trees. 
The £f tile FbresfersSz 
efc 






IKusfrafed by ">'• 

Charles Copeland^f: : J^::4M-' 




TMIadelphia* 

•* GeorgeW.ifacobs 8, Co. 

Publishers 






USfiAaY of CONGRESS 
fwu Copies rtec*v«! 

SEP 14 1908 

GtASS l AXfe Nu. 
T— O. <fc. ^ Q I 









Copyright, 1908, by 
George W. Jacobs and Company 

Published September , /pc>£ 



y?// rights reserved 
Printed in U. S. A. 



Dedicated to 

My illustrator and friend 

MR. CHARLES COPELAND 

whose clever brush has caught so 
perfectly each zvhim of nature in 
field and forest, and called from 
hiding the furtive furred and 
feathered folk, who come and go 
like shadows in the ancient woods. 



THE GREAT BEAR OF THE MOUNTAINS 

He had stolen the belt of Wampum 
From the neck of Mishe-mokwa, 
From the Great Bear of the mountains, 
From the terror of the nations, 
As he lay asleep and cumbrous, 
On the summit of the mountains, 
Like a rock with mosses on it, 
Spotted brown and gray with mosses. 

— Longfellow. 




'Ursus, the Droll. Intro- 
ductory 

I. A Thief in the Night 

II. The Chase .... 

III. A Wilderness Baby 

IV. The Cuehood of Black Bruin 
V. A Bollicking Bogue 

YI. The Life of a Dancing -Bear 

VII. The Vagabonds 

VIII. The Beast and the Man . 

IX. Life in the Wild . 

X. The Great Bear-Hunt . 

XL A Pleasant Companion . 

XII. The King of the Mountain . 

XIII. The Bear With a Collar 

XIV. The Wreck . 



13 
29 
41 
53 
71 
89 
107 
125 
137 
153 
173 
193 
209 
235 
259 




Black Bruin's first acquaintance with a 

panther . ..... Frontispiece 

The bear hurried in hot pursuit . Facing page 86 / 

Black Bruin dealt the porcupine 

a crushing blow . . . " u 162 / 



Growler sprang at Black Bruin's 
throat 

He discovered another bear, watch - 



a u 



ing the stream 



• . 



184 



196 



URSUS, THE DROLL 
INTRODUCTORY 



URSUS, THE DROLL 

INTRODUCTORY 

With the possible exception of the deer 
family, the bear is the most widely dis- 
seminated big game, known to hunters. 

He makes his home within the Arctic 
Circle, often living upon the great ice-floe, 
or dwells within a tropical jungle, and both 
climates are agreeable to him, while longi- 
tudinally he has girdled the world. 

Of course bruin varies much, according to 
the climate in which he lives, and the con- 
ditions of his life, but all the way from the 
poles to the tropics he retains certain 
characteristics that always proclaim him a 
bear. 

He is a plantigrade, walking like a man 
upon the soles of his feet. There is more 



16 Black Bruin 



truth than poetry in Kipling's poem, 
" The Man Who Walks Like a Bear," for 
some men do walk like a bear. 

Bruin's four-footed gait is a shuffle and a 
shamble, rather clumsy and ludicrous, but 
it takes him over the ground at a surprising 
pace. Queer, also, is the fact that the bear 
combines great dexterity with his seeming 
clumsiness, as many a hunter has found to 
his cost. His tree-climbing accomplish- 
ments are likewise remarkable, when we 
consider his great size and weight. The 
grizzlies, and some other large varieties, do 
not do tree-climbing, except when they are 
young. A grizzly cub can climb a tree, but 
his wrists soon become too stiff to permit of 
their bending about the trunk. 

Bruin's disposition also varies with the 
climate he inhabits. This in turn is be- 
cause his diet varies in differing latitudes. 
The farther south he ranges, the more of a 
vegetarian he becomes. Consequently, he 



Ursus, the Droll 17 

is not so ferocious. The great white polar 
bear is largely carnivorous, so he is a crea- 
ture not to be trifled with ; while on the 
other hand, the little African sun bear is a 
rollicking, social, good-natured little chap, 
weighing many times less than his fierce 
cousin. 

Formerly, it has been supposed that the 
Numidian lion and the Bengal tiger were 
the largest carnivorous animals in existence, 
but more recent discoveries show that our 
Alaskan brown bear, found upon the pe- 
ninsulas of lower Alaska and Kodiak Is- 
land, is easily the master of either, in size or 
strength. Some of the splendid skins taken 
from these, the largest of all the bears, 
measure fourteen feet in length. Alaska 
also gives us the smallest North American 
bear, the glacial bear. 

Californians are wont to tell us that the 
only true grizzly is that found upon the 
cover of the Overland Monthly, but they 



18 Black Bruin 



overlook the fact that the name was given 
to bears found along the Missouri River by 
Lewis and Clarke, years before California, 
with all its wealth, was discovered. 

In Russia, a fine specimen of the family 
is found in the Ural Mountains. His pecu- 
liarity is a white collar about the neck, so 
his Latin name, Ursus cottar is, means the 
bear with a collar. All through the 
Himalayas, this restless plantigrade has 
wandered, and even far down upon the 
low-lying plains of India and China ; but all 
the way he shuffles and shambles and is the 
same droll fellow. 

The bear's vegetable diet consists of ber- 
ries, nuts and many kinds of roots. He 
will not refuse sweet apples and pears when 
he can find them. In the tropics he eats 
nearly all the fruits that the natives eat and 
leads altogether a lazy, luxurious life. 
Since food is plentiful in these warm cli- 
mates, he does not have to cross the path of 



Ursus, the Droll 19 

man to get it, or be forced to steal, as the 
bear living in colder climes often does ; so 
he is a good-natured, easy-going fellow, who 
will let you alone if you do not pick a 
quarrel with him. This is much more true 
of bears in general, than is usually supposed. 

In the tropics, the bear does not have to 
hibernate to keep the fat that he has 
gained in the time of plenty upon his ribs. 
So his period of sleeping is very short and 
in many cases he does not hibernate at all ; 
while, on the other hand, the bear of the 
cold northland sleeps nearly half of the 
year. 

Hibernation seems to be a wise provision 
of nature by means of which the bear con- 
serves his flesh and strength during ex- 
treme weather. When the ground is 
covered several feet deep with snow, it 
will readily be seen that berry-picking 
would be difficult, and nuts and roots 
would be hard to find, as would the ants 



20 Black Bruin 



and grubs under logs and stones, with 
which the bear varies his diet in fine 
weather. The chipmunks and mice have 
also denned up, so there is not much for 
bruin to do but sleep. 

There is one weakness that I believe the 
bear always indulges whenever he can, no 
matter in what clime he be found, and that 
is a love for sweets, especially honey. He 
will dare the sharp bayonets of the most 
angry swarm of bees or climb the worst 
tree, if he feels at all certain that there 
will be honey after his pains. In some 
countries, he damages a great many tele- 
phone and telegraph poles and wires by 
climbing the poles in search of that swarm 
of bees, which he imagines he hears hum- 
ming, inside the pole. 

In the temperate zone bears mate in the 
summer months and the young are born 
late in Januaiy, during hibernation. Bear- 
cubs are very small babies for such large 



Ursus, the Droll 21 

parents, weighing much less in proportion 
to their dams than most other mammals. 
They are blind, helpless and almost hairless. 

As the old bear is very fat when they 
are born and they do nothing but sleep in 
the dark den, they grow rapidly, so that 
when they are finally brought forth at the 
age of perhaps four months, they have 
developed wonderfully and would hardly 
be recognized as the tiny blind cubs of a 
few weeks before. 

When the old bears first come forth from 
hibernation they eat very little for two or 
three weeks. Their long fast and the in- 
activity of the vital organs have greatly 
weakened the digestive parts, so they must 
have time in which to recover, before they 
are made to do the hard work of digesting 
flesh and bone. The bear, therefore, wisely 
contents himself with grass and browse, 
living very much as a deer would, until 
his digestive organs have regained their 



22 Black Bruin 



usual tone, when he will gorge himself 
upon the first victim that he is lucky 
enough to catch. 

If Bruin lives in the vicinity of civiliza- 
tion, he would prefer to break his fast with 
tender young pig. Pig, to the bear, is what 
'possum is to the negro. He will travel for 
miles and take risks that he does not often 
expose himself to, if thereby he can secure 
a squealing porker. 

The sire and dam do not hibernate to- 
gether and they are seen together only 
during a few weeks of their honeymoon. 

Winter quarters are usually found under 
a fallen tree-top, or in some natural den in 
the rocks. If a suitable place cannot be 
.secured, the bear will even do some exca- 
vating on his own account, but they gen- 
erally choose a den that nature has provided. 

The smaller bears which are usually 
known as the black bear, are found to be 
both black and brown. Cubs of both colors 



Ursus, the Droll 23 

will often be discovered with the same 
mother, but the brown variety is not found 
east of the Mississippi River. The really 
black bear also varies in color with the 
seasons, being darker and glossier in the 
cold months. 

To see a bear really enjoy himself is to 
discover him in the blueberry lot, stand- 
ing upon his hind legs, swooping the ber- 
ries into his mouth with ravenous delight. 
At such a time his grin of benevolence is 
very apparent. 

The cubs den up with the old bear the 
first fall, but usually shift for themselves 
when the new cubs come, although it is not 
an infrequent sight to see an old bear with 
two sizes of cubs following her. 

As a rule, the different varieties of black 
bear are not dangerous. While they will 
occasionally charge the hunter when 
wounded, they usually flee away at their 
best pace when danger appears. 



24 Black Bruin 



Even when interested with berry-pick- 
ing or hunting, the bear is watchful and 
wary and as his scent and hearing are of 
the keenest, he is hard to surprise. It is 
probably true that his eyesight is not as 
keen as his other senses. 

The black bear is hunted both on the 
still hunt, and with dogs. When dogs are 
employed, a large pack is used, and they 
merely run the bear until it is treed or 
brought to bay, when it is shot by the 
hunter. Dogs are of little, if any, use in 
hunting grizzlies. 

There are several varieties of large bears, 
probably all variations of grizzlies, which 
are differentiated locally. Some of these 
are the roachback, the silver tip, the Cali- 
fornia grizzly, the plains bear, the smut- 
face, etc. 

In the olden days before the grizzly be- 
came wise, he would charge anything that 
walked either on two or four feet. But he 



Ursus, the Droll 2? 

has now learned all about firearms, and is 
as willing to run from the hunter, as is his 
cousin, the black bear. 

The bear's manner of hunting large game 
is usually by ambush. As most of his 
victims are more fleet of foot than he, he 
does not undertake to run them down in 
the open, but if he can get them at disad- 
vantage in thick cover, or at the lick, this 
is his opportunity. 

In the Adirondack country and in North- 
ern Maine, it is a common sight to see a 
young bear about a farmhouse, where he is 
as much at home as the farm-dog. Many 
of the summer hotels, in this region, keep a 
tame bear to amuse the visitors. 

These bears are obtained as cubs from 
any one who is fortunate enough to dis- 
cover a bear's den and who has the good 
luck to find the old bear away from home 
and the cubs at his mere) 7 . 

A likely cub can usually be obtained in 



26 Black Bruin 



either Maine or Northern New York for five 
or ten dollars. 

Bears occasionally stray down the Green 
Mountains into Western Massachusetts, 
where they inhabit the Hoosac Mountains, 
which are a continuation of this range. 

Very recently a bear was killed near 
October Mountain, upon Mr. Whitney's 
extensive game-preserve. He had been 
hanging about the mountain all summer 
and had given two belated pedestrians a 
lively sprint only the night before his 
Waterloo. Being emboldened by the seem- 
ing servility of the neighborhood, bruin 
finally went to a farmhouse and, forcing the 
kitchen door, marched boldly into the well- 
ordered room to see what they were going 
to have for dinner. While waiting for this 
meal, he amused himself by tumbling the 
pots and pans about. This enraged the 
thrifty housewife, who seized a double- 
barreled shotgun standing in the corner and 



Ursus, the Droll 27 

discharged both barrels simultaneously at 
the intruder. When the smoke cleared 
away, it was discovered that she had bagged 
a bear weighing three hundred pounds. 

The dancing bear of song and story, as 
well as of real life, has long been the 
delight of children, but he is not now seen 
as frequently as of yore. Bears in the 
circus to-day play a minor part in the per- 
formance. 

This short introductory chapter is the 
pedigree and characteristics in brief, of 
Ursus, the bear, whose varieties, like those 
of Keynard, the fox, are legion. 

I have tried to give the reader some idea 
of the bear in general, but these facts about 
bruin must be varied as the climate varies 
between the arctic regions and the tropics. 
If a meat diet makes man cross and brutal, 
and a fruit and vegetable diet makes him 
amiable and indolent, they affect bruin in 
the same manner. 



28 Black Bruin 



But wherever you find a bear, be he a 
grizzly, black, or polar, basking in the trop- 
ical sun, or freezing upon the ice-floe, he 
will still be the same droll old chap, shuf- 
fling and shambling, sniffing and inquiring 
with his keen nose. If he be the smaller 
black or brown bear, he will often be found 
in the company of man, conducting himself 
with dignity, and generally showing much 
good behavior for a wild beast. 



CHAPTER I 
A THIEF IN THE NIGHT 



Black Bruin 

CHAPTER I 

A THIEF IN THE NIGHT 

Outside, the fitful early April wind 
howled dismally, swaying the leafless 
branches of the old elm, and causing them 
to rub complainingly against the gable end 
of the farmhouse. Two or three inches of 
fine snow had fallen the day before and the 
wind tossed it about gleefully, festooning 
the window-sashes and piling it high upon 
window-sills. It was one of old winter's 
last kicks and made it seem even more 
wintry than it really was. 

Although the wind moaned and the snow 
danced fitfully, within a certain quaint 
farmhouse in Northern New York was 



32 Black Bruin 



warmth and comfort, all the more appar- 
ent by the touch of winter outside. 

A cheerful fire was crackling in a large 
kitchen range, suggesting, by its brightness 
and snapping, pine-knots full of pitch and 
resin. The front doors of the stove were 
open and the firelight danced across the 
room, filling it with cheer. It was one of 
those homelike kitchens where everything 
is spick and span, and the nickel on the 
stove shines like silver. 

A young farmer of perhaps thirty years 
was sitting with his shoes off and his heels 
toasting upon the hearth, while his wife, a 
pretty, rosy-cheeked country girl, of about 
his own age, sat in a large splint-bottom 
chair, sewing. If it needed one more thing 
to complete the cozy picture of simple, 
wholesome country life, it was not wanting, 
for just at the wife's elbow was a cradle, 
which she occasionally jogged with her 
foot, giving it just enough motion to keep it 



A Thief in the Night 33 

swaying gently. I- In the cradle slumbered 
the heir of the household and the link of 
pure gold that bound these two lives to- 
gether. 

Everything in the room breathed con- 
tentment. The kettle hummed and sput- 
tered, sending forth its white cloud of steam, 
while the kitchen clock ticked off the 
pleasant moments. 

The man was deeply interested in the 
weekly paper for which he had just driven 
to the office, but he occasionally stopped to 
take a bite out of a large red Baldwin apple 
that he found in a dish on the table near 

by- 

He was so engrossed in local items that 
he did not hear his wife's excited question 
until it was repeated for the second time. 

" John, what is that?" she asked. 

" What is what?" he replied, laying 
down his paper that he might give his full 
attention to her inquiry. 



34 Black Bruin 



il That noise on the piazza," she answered 
in a low tone. 

" I don't hear any noise," returned the 
man ; but almost as he spoke a slow 
shambling step made the floor-boards of the 
old piazza creak and a heavy hand was laid 
upon the door. 

" Hello, who's there?" asked the man, 
for he could think of no one who would be 
calling at the hour of nine, which is really 
late in a farming community. 

But there was no reply to his inquiry, 
only the sound of a heavy step moving up 
and down in front of the door. 

" Who are you, and what do you want?" 
repeated the young farmer in an irritated 
tone, for he was both surprised and an- 
noyed by the intrusion. 

For answer, the kitchen door began 
creaking and straining as though great 
force was being exerted on it from the out- 
side, and before the astonished couple could 



A Thief in the Night 35 

exchange glances of amazement and in- 
credulity, with a mighty crash it tumbled 
in upon them, bringing one door-jamb with 
it, and fell with a bang upon the floor. 

But the most astonishing thing of all 
was the figure that stood drawn up to its 
full height in the doorway. 

The man and woman sat as though petri- 
fied, amazement and fear written upon 
their pale faces, for there in the doorway, 
eyeing them intently, and with no thought 
of retreat, was a large black bear. 

As the bear stood there, arms akimbo, 
bear fashion, her great white teeth showing 
through half-parted lips, and the strong- 
claws suggesting what execution could be 
done by a well-directed blow, she was any- 
thing but a reassuring visitor. 

The young farmer, feeling that something 
must be done to scare off this hair-raising- 
intruder, leaped to his feet in sudden 
desperation, and, shouting at the top of his 



36 Black Bruin 



voice, seized the door and slammed it back 
into the casing with all his strength, bump- 
ing the bear's nose severely. Then he set 
his shoulder against it, and braced with 
all his might. 

But his move was a bad one, for there 
was a short angry growl on the outside and 
the next instant the door, farmer and all 
went spinning across the room, the man 
falling heavily and striking against the 
stove in the fall, and the great shagg} T 
monster at once followed up her advan- 
tage by shambling awkwardly into the 
room. 

The woman screamed and fainted, and 
then a gust of wind from the open door- 
way blew out the light, leaving the kitchen 
in darkness. 

For a few moments the only sounds 
heard in the room were the ticking of the 
clock, the humming of the teakettle, and 
the shambling steps of the bear as she 



A Thief in the Night 37 

prowled about. But both of the figures on 
the floor were unconscious of what was go- 
ing on, while a bright stream of blood 
trickled from a deep cut in the man's fore- 
head. 

Finally he was aroused by a cold draft of 
air upon his head. He put his hand to 
his forehead and saw that it was dripping 
with a warm fluid. He then put his 
fingers into his mouth and tasted and knew 
that it was blood. Then full consciousness 
surged into his throbbing head and he re- 
membered. 

There was no animate sound in the room 
and a terrible foreboding chilled his heart. 
He listened for his wife's breathing, but no 
such sound reached his ears. 

" Mary," he called in a whisper, " are you 
here ? " But there was only the ticking of 
the clock and the hum of the kettle. 

With an unspeakable fear he sprang to 
his feet, throwing off all caution and cried, 



38 Black Bruin 



" Mary," in a loud voice, but with no better 
results. 

Then with a trembling hand he struck a 
match and by its feeble light saw his wife 
lying on the floor like one dead. Kneeling 
beside her he felt her pulse. It fluttered 
feebly and he knew she had only swooned. 
A dash of cold water soon revived her and 
she sat up and looked bewilderingly about. 

There upon the floor lay the door with 
the shattered jamb beside it and in front of 
the stove was a bright pool of blood, but no 
bear was visible. Then the match went out 
and they were again in darkness. 

Suddenly, with a paroxysm of fear, the 
woman sprang forward and clutched in the 
darkness for the cradle ; then with a wild, 
pitiful, heartbroken cry, she fell to the floor. 

" Mary, Mary, what is the matter ? " 
cried the bewildered husband, trying with 
trembling fingers to strike another match. 

A moment it sputtered and then burned 



A Thief in the Night 39 

bright, and by the fitful light the man 
beheld that which turned his blood to ice 
and his heart to stone. The cradle was 
empty, and the baby was gone. 



CHAPTER II 
THE CHASE 



CHAPTER II 

THE CHASE 

When the sudden gust of wind from the 
open door blew out the light and left the 
room in darkness, the great she-bear was 
not as much inconvenienced as one might 
imagine, for the bear is something of a 
prowler at night, doing much thieving and 
hunting when the darkness screens its deeds, 
as he has a very good pair of night-eyes. 

Being thus left in darkness, the great 
brute stepped gingerly about, taking care 
not to tread upon the two prostrate forms on 
the floor, until she came to the cradle. 
There she stooped and investigated, passing 
her tongue caressingly over the little 
sleeper's face. Then with her great clums}^ 
paws she drew the blanket in which the 



44 Black Bruin 



baby had been wrapped about the sleeping 
child, and taking the loose ends in her 
teeth, swung it clear of the cradle and held 
it as though in a hammock. 

Still standing erect, the bear edged care- 
fully to the doorway, but once on the piazza, 
where she felt sure that the way was clear, 
she dropped on all fours, and started for the 
woods at a clumsy, shuffling trot. But 
clumsy as the gait was, it took her over the 
ground rapidly, and she was soon far into 
the forest. 

The heartbroken mother, after being 
brought back to consciousness, could only 
sit and wring her hands and moan, " O John, 
John, my bab) T , my darling, I shall never 
see it again." 

For a few moments the strong young 
man sat as though stunned by the sud- 
denness of the blow. His brawn) 7 arms 
were nerveless ; the heart had gone out of 
him, leaving him helpless as a little child. 



The Chase 45 



But presently his strong manhood asserted 
itself, and a bright glitter came into his 
keen, gray eyes. 

" Mary," he said, almost roughly, " stop 
taking on so and listen to me. I am going- 
after our child and with God's help I will 
bring him back." The realization of the 
hopelessness of it all nearly choked him, 
but he had to say something to quiet the 
look of misery and terror in his wife's 
eyes. 

" I want you to stay right here until I 
come back. I am a strong man and a good 
shot and no harm will come to me. No 
matter how long I am gone, or how lonely 
you get, you are not to stir from the house. 
Do you hear?" 

The young mother looked at him in a 
dazed manner as though she but half 
comprehended, but at last a look of under- 
standing and eagerness came into her eyes. 

" I am going too," she said. 



46 Black Bruin 



The man had foreseen and feared this 
and had tried to forestall it. 

" No," he said, roughly, " you cannot 
go. Stay right in this room until I re- 
turn." 

As he spoke he took down an old double- 
barreled gun, and drawing the shot in one 
barrel, rammed home a Minie ball that just 
fitted the bore. This was a rude make- 
shift for a rifle, but it was the best he could 
do. 

Hastily slipping on his overcoat and cap, 
and tenderly kissing his wife, he passed 
out into the darkness, on his hazardous 
and almost hopeless mission. But before 
taking the trail, he went to the shed and 
aroused an old hound who was sleeping 
upon a door-mat inside. 

" Here, Hecla," he called. " Come along. 
You may be of some help to me to-night." 

Then tying a long piece of rope to the 
hound's collar, that she might not follow 



The Chase 47 



too fast, he said, " Here, Hecla, good dog," 
indicating the beast's track in the snow. 
" Sic, Si-c-c-c-c." 

As the strong bear scent fumed into the 
old hound's nostrils, the hair rose upon her 
neck and she stood uncertain. 

" Si-c-c-c-c," repeated the man sternly. 

Reluctantly the hound took the trail, 
the man following close behind. Across 
the mowing and into the pasture, and 
straight for the deep woods, the track led. 

The man groaned as he thought of the 
hopelessness of his task ; — to follow a full- 
grown bear into the deep woods at night, 
and recover safely from its clutches a little 
child. 

This was his only hope, though, so setting 
his teeth, and remembering the pale face 
of his wife, the terror in her eyes, and his 
promise to bring their boy back safely, he 
kept on swiftly and bravely. 

Fifteen minutes brought man and dog to 






48 Black Bruin 



the woods, and without hesitation they 
plunged into its depths. It was not so easy 
going here as it had been in the open. 
The rope was always getting tangled in the 
underbrush, and a stop eveiy few minutes 
to unloose it had to be made. 

Sometimes the man plunged up to his 
waist in the snow where it lay deep in some 
hollow. Sometimes it was a dead limb ly- 
ing across his path that sent him sprawling. 
Occasionally the underbrush lashed his 
face and tore his skin. But these were 
little things. Somewhere in the inter- 
minable woods a great brute of a bear was 
perhaps at this very moment— he dared not 
finish the thought, he could onty groan. 

For half an hour they floundered for- 
ward, now slipping and sliding, and now 
falling, but always up and on again. 

At last, when the man was almost 
winded, and his breath was coming in 
quick gasps, a faint, far-off cr}' floated 



The Chase 49 



down to him through the ghostly aisles 
of the naked wind-swept forest. At first 
it was so faint as to be almost unintel- 
ligible, but as they pressed on, it grew 
louder and clearer, until the man recognized 
the pitiful wailing of a baby. 

" Thank God ! " he gasped, " my boy is 
still alive." 

By this time the old hound had fairly 
warmed up to the chase and was tugging 
on the rope and whining eagerly. 

To let the dog go on now might frighten 
the bear and thus defeat the whole under- 
taking, so the man tied her to a sapling, 
and, bidding her keep quiet, crept 
cautiously forward. 

A hundred feet farther on, the cries from 
the child grew louder. A moment more 
and he caught sight of the bear leaning up 
against a large beech, holding the baby in 
her strong arms. 

To the agonized father's great surprise 



So Black Bruin 



the bear's attitude looked almost maternal ; 
she seemed indeed to be trying in her brute 
way to soothe the infant. She caressed its 
face with her nose, and lapped it with her 
long, soft red tongue. If it had been one 
of her own cubs she could not have shown 
more concern. 

So much the frantic father noted, while 
he stood irresolute, uncertain what to do 
next. The bear would have been an easy 
shot by daylight, if there had been no baby 
to consider. But there was that little 
bundle of humanity, the man's own flesh 
and blood, and a bullet in order to pierce 
the bear's heart must strike within a few 
inches of the baby's head. The task that 
King Gessler set William Tell, was child's 
play compared with this. To shoot might 
mean to kill his own child, and not to 
shoot might mean a still more terrible 
death for the infant. 

The child's wails now grew louder and 



The Chase 51 



more frequent. The old bear became un- 
easy ; in another moment she might flee 
farther into the woods, or worse than that, 
might silence the little one with a blow or 
a crunch of her powerful jaws. 

The desperate man raised his gun. The 
fitful moonlight shimmered and danced 
upon the barrel, and the shadows from the 
tree-tops alternated with the dancing moon- 
beams. He could see the sight but dimly 
and, added to all this, was the thought that 
the gun was not a rifle, with an accurate 
bullet, but an old shotgun loaded with a 
Minie ball. 

At first, his arms shook so that he could 
not hold the gun steady, but by a mighty 
effort he nerved himself. For a second the 
moon favored him ; a moment the sight 
glinted just in front of the bear's left 
shoulder, frightfully close to his child's 
head, and then he pressed the trigger. 

A bright flame leaped from the muzzle of 



Black Bruin 



the old gun ; its roar resounded frightfully 
through the aisles of the naked woods, and 
its last echo was followed by the startled 
cry of the infant. 

Dropping the gun in the snow, the man 
bounded forward, drawing a long knife 
from his belt as he ran. Four or five fran- 
tic bounds carried him to the foot of the 
beech, where the bear had stood when he 
fired. 

There in the snow lay the enormous 
black form, and close beside it in a snow- 
drift, still nicely wrapped in its blanket, 
was the child, apparently without a scratch 
upon it. 



CHAPTER III 
A WILDERNESS BABY 



CHAPTER III 

A WILDERNESS BABY 

When the young farmer beheld the great 
hulk of the black bear lying motionless at 
the foot of the beech, and saw his child 
lying unharmed in the snow, his eye, that 
had been so keen at the moment of peril, 
grew dim and his senses swam, like one 
upon a high pinnacle, about to fall. 

But it was only for a second. His strong 
nerves soon restored him, and he stooped 
and picked up the baby, although he was so 
blinded with glad tears that he had to 
grope for the precious bundle. 

What a miracle it was, he thought ; only 
the watchful care of a special Providence 
could have steadied his hand for that 
desperate shot. The more he considered, 
the more miraculous it seemed, and with a 



56 Black Brain 



heart welling up with praise and gratitude, 
he silently thanked God for the deliverance, 
then woke the leafless forest with a glad, 
" Halloo." 

This was intended for the old hound, and 
she at once responded with a quick suc- 
cession of joyous barks. 

The man had been a little uncertain of 
the direction home, as he had followed the 
trail feverishly, but the dog's greeting at 
once set him right. Shielding the baby in 
his arms, and picking out as good footing as 
he could in the uncertain light, he made all 
haste back to his faithful canine, whose 
whines and barks guided him from time to 
time. 

" It's all right, Hecla, old girl, I've got 
him," he cried as soon as he came within 
speaking distance of the dog. The father's 
joy was so great that he had to impart it to 
some one. 

He lost no time in untying the dog and 



A Wilderness Baby 57 

with her as a guide they were able to follow 
the homeward trail through the darkest 
places in safety. He must make all pos- 
sible haste, for he remembered the look of 
mute agony in his wife's eyes, as she stood 
at the door watching his departure. 

" Home, home, Hecla ! " he cried, each 
time they plunged into deeper gloom than 
usual. " We must hurry." 

But the good dog needed no urging. 
Out and in, unerringly, she led him, until 
the open pasture lot was reached. 

Then with a glad bark she bounded over 
the stone wall and started across the fields 
at a pace that her master could not keep. 
He did not call her back, for he felt sure 
that she could impart the glad news to her 
mistress before his coming, and anything to 
relieve the suspense at home was desirable. 

While the two had been floundering 
through the deep woods upon their seem- 
ingly hopeless quest, the grief-stricken 



58 Black Bruin 



mother had paced the kitchen floor, wring- 
ing her hands and moaning. Occasionally, 
as the moments dragged slowly by, she 
would go to the piazza and listen until it 
seemed that her ear-drums would burst 
with the intensity of her effort, but only the 
moaning of the wind, and the usual night 
sounds came to her ears. 

At last, in one of these anxious periods 
of listening, she thought she detected the 
barking of old Hecla, but was not certain. 
Perhaps it was only the wind playing 
pranks upon her overwrought nerves, or the 
hooting of an owl. 

She waited expectantly and a few seconds 
later, hearing the old hound's glad bark as 
she bounded over the wall between the pas- 
ture and the mowing, knew that John had 
sent her with a message for the mistress of 
Clover-hill Farm. There was something 
in the dog's bark that put hope into her 
heart, and she ran to meet her. 



A Wilderness Baby 59 

" Hecla, Hecla, old friend, what is 
it?" cried the mother, as the faithful 
canine, panting from the hard run, ca- 
pered breathlessly about her mistress, wag- 
ging her tail and quivering with excite- 
ment. 

" Can't you tell me, Hecla ? Is my 
baby safe?" 

For answer the dog gave several glad 
barks, and barking and capering, plainly 
invited her mistress to follow her and see 
that she brought good news. 

The mother, whose arms seemed so 
empty, was only too glad to do this. It 
had only been because of her husband's 
stern command and for fear that her pres- 
ence might defeat the enterprise, that she 
had stayed at home at all. 

With the trained sight of a woodsman, 
John saw them coming long before his wife 
saw him, and he hallooed to them at the 
top of his voice. 



6o Black Bruin 



" It's all right, mother," he cried, " I've 
got little John." 

A few seconds later he placed the baby in 
its mother's arms and sank down in the 
snow exhausted from his long, hard run. 

When he had recovered his breath and 
had gasped out a few words of explanation, 
all hurried back to the farmhouse, the old 
dog leading the way. 

In half an hour's time the cozy kitchen 
was righted. The door had been rehung 
and the accustomed warmth and good cheer 
had returned to the room, where the kettle 
hummed and the clock ticked just as 
though nothing had happened. 

But to the young couple, who sat by the 
fireside talking it over, that last half hour 
seemed like a nightmare. 

The following morning, when the first 
faint streak of daylight was whitening the 
east, the young farmer and his faithful dog 
again took the trail for the woods. 



A Wilderness Baby 61 

How different was their going now, from 
that of the night before ! Then, an awful 
fear had gripped the man's heart, and the 
sympathetic dog had felt her master's 
misery ; but now, the man's step was quick 
and joyous, and the dog bounded about him 
with barks of delight. 

The tracks made the night before were 
still quite plain, and they soon came to the 
beech where the bear had stood when the 
hair-raising shot was made. There lay the 
great carcass in the snow just as it had the 
night before. 

The coat was long and glossy, of a deep 
black on the outside, and rather lighter on 
the under side. Her forearms were strong 
and her claws were most ample. Her jaw 
was massive, and altogether she was a beast 
that one would not care for a close acquaint- 
ance with, especially if she thought her 
young were in danger. 

It was useless to think of moving the 



62 Black Bruin 



prize without a team, so the exultant 
farmer went home for a horse and a sled, 
and in half an hour's time the huge bear 
was lying upon the porch of the farmhouse. 

News of the startling event spread rap- 
idly and half a dozen neighbors gathered 
to see the bear weighed. To the astonish- 
ment of all, she tipped the beam at three 
hundred pounds, which is a few pounds 
short of the record for the largest she-bear 
ever weighed. 

Two of the neighbors helped remove the 
fine skin and received some bear-steak in 
return for their labor. 

Late in the afternoon, the now famous 
hunter again shouldered his gun and set off 
for the woods, followed by old Hecla. He 
was not satisfied in his own mind, that they 
had found out all there was to know about 
the strange appearance of the bear at the 
farmhouse. If there should be more 
"goods in the case," as he expressed it, so 



A Wilderness Baby 63 

so much the better ; but if not, he would 
keep his own counsel and no one would 
suspect that he had been upon a second 
bear-hunt. 

He went directly to the tree where the 
dead bear had lain, and examined the snow 
carefully. He soon found a well-defined trail 
that led farther back into the woods. This 
he followed easily, and it brought him 
to an old fallen hemlock, which was partly 
covered with snow. The tracks led into 
the deepest, thickest portion of the top and 
there ended at the mouth of a burrow 
that had been tunneled down under- 
neath. 

The hunter got a long pole and prodded 
about in the tree-top until he satisfied him- 
self that there was nothing formidable in- 
side. Then setting his gun against a tree 
trunk, he crawled into the burrow. 

He had entered only three or four feet, 
when a weak, pitiful whine greeted his 



64 Black Bruin 



ears. "Just as 1 thought," lie muttered. 
" There are cubs here." 

A few feet farther down he found them, 
— two astonishingly small bear-cubs. One 
whined pitifully and struggled to his feet 
as though in anticipation of supper, but the 
other was cold and stiff. It had evidently 
been dead for some time. 

The excited bear-hunter took them both 
in his arms and clambered out of the den, 
feeling well repaid for his search. 

Holding the cub that was still alive 
under his coat for warmth and protection 
from the wind, he hurried home, while the 
hound leaped about him and sniffed sus- 
piciously at his coat. 

His wife was sitting in the cozy kitchen 
sewing, and occasionally jogging the cradle, 
when he entered and, without a word of 
explanation, dropped the live cub in her lap. 

" O John," she cried, " what a dear little 
dog he is Where did you get him ? " 



A Wilderness Baby 65 

" Under an old tree-top in the woods," 
he replied. " It isn't a puppy, it is a bear- 
cub. 

" Here is his brother," and he held up 
the dead cub for her inspection. " I guess 
the old bear came round and stole your 
baby to take the place of her dead cub. 
There are tracks behind the house where 
she came up to the window and stood upon 
her hind legs and looked in. Sort of tak- 
ing inventory, as you might say." 

The woman went to the north kitchen 
window and to her great astonishment 
saw that her husband had not been joking. 
There were bear-tracks, and also two large 
paw-prints upon the window-sill that told 
of a silent watcher of their domestic fireside. 

A box was brought from the wood-shed 
and lined with an old blanket, and milk 
was warmed for the little wilderness baby, 
that had found its way so strangely into 
the farmhouse. 



66 Black Bmin 



It was ravenously hungry and the man 
held it, while the wife poured warm milk, 
a few drops at a time, into its mouth. At 
first the process was rather laborious, but 
after a few hours the young bear would gulp 
down the warm milk gladly. 

Thus the bear-cub began his life at the 
farmhouse, lying in a warm box behind 
the stove and drinking milk from a saucer. 
Most of his days and nights he spent in 
sleeping, as is the wont of young animals, 
and this was nature's sure way of making 
him strong and sleek. 

The following Saturday the farmer went 
to town, where he w r as much lionized as a 
bear-hunter and the whole story had to be 
told over and over to each one he met. 
That night at the supper-table he remarked 
to his wife that he had seen Dave Holcome, 
a famous trapper and bear-hunter in his 
day, and had asked him what he thought 
about the bear's stealing the baby. 



A Wilderness Baby 67 

" What did lie say ? " inquired the wife, 
all interest. 

" Wal," drawled her husband, in exact 
imitation of Dave, " bars are durned cur us 
critters, almost as curus as women. You 
can hunt and trap 'urn all your life an' 
think you know all about 'urn, then along 
will come a bar that will teach you difrunt. 
There ain't no use in makin' rules about 
bar ettyket, cuz ef you do, some miserable 
pig-headed bar will break 'urn all ter smash, 
jest like this 'ere one did. But I think 
there is a good deal surer way uv ac- 
countin' for the critter's action than what 
you say. It's my idee that he mistook the 
baby for a young pig." 

" The wretch," exclaimed the indignant 
wife, but her husband onty laughed until 
the tears ran down his cheeks. 

" You didn't get any mail, did you ? " she 
asked, when his mirth had subsided. 

"Yes, I did," he answered. "Here is a 



68 Black Bruin 



letter. I bad forgotten all about it." The 
letter proved to be from a town thirty or 
forty miles to the north, and was as 
follows : 

11 Dear Sir : I have been much interested 
in reading in our local paper the account of 
a strange visitor that you had at your 
house early in the week. I think I may 
be able to shed some light on that extra- 
ordinary event. 

" About eight years ago I secured a bear- 
cub when it was still small and brought it 
up in my household. There was at the 
same time in my family a baby to which 
the cub became much attached. No dog- 
was ever more devoted to a child, than was 
the bear-cub as the two grew up together. 
They were constant companions and were 
inseparable. 

" Finally the bear became so strong a 
partisan of the child that she was really 
jealous of the rest of the family. She 
seemed to think that the child belonged to 
her. The second summer on several 
occasions the two strayed far from home. 
The bear seemed to like to toll the child 
away, where she could have it all to herself. 



A Wilderness Baby 69 

" One day when the boy refused to follow 
where its shaggy companion led, the bear 
fastened her teeth in the man-cub's clothes 
and carried her small master, kicking and 
protesting, to the woods, where both were 
found some hours later. 

" I interfered at this point and shipped 
the bear away to a summer hotel, where 
they wanted something to amuse the 
visitors. She soon tired of the company 
and escaped to the wild. 

" Now I am confident that our old 
Blackie and your bear are one and the 
same, but the matter is easily settled. Our 
bear had lost a toe on her left hind leg, the 
consequence of getting in front of the 
mowing machine in the tall grass when she 
was small. Please examine your specimen 
in this particular and let me hear from 
you." 

"The riddle is solved, " exclaimed the 
husband excitedly tossing the letter across 
the table to his wife. " I noticed the miss- 
ing toe when I removed the skin. It is a 
great relief to have the matter cleared up." 



CHAPTER IV 
THE CUBHOOD OF BLACK BRUIN 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CUBHOOD OF BLACK BKUIN 

For several weeks the furry, fuzzy little 
bear in the box behind the kitchen stove 
did little but drink milk and sleep. If he 
did crawl out of his box on to the floor, it 
was simply to investigate the surroundings, 
and he would go about the room, poking 
his nose into all the corners, and sniffing 
suspiciously. 

But by degrees as he grew stronger and 
sturdier he evinced much curiosity, play- 
fulness and drollery, and to these charac- 
teristics would have to be added, when he 
became partly grown, a kind of bear sense 
of humor which was quite ludicrous. 

His first playfellow was the pillow 
which he tumbled off the sofa one day. 



74 Black Bruin 



Having discovered that it was detachable, 
he always made for it as soon as the spirit 
of play seized him. He would toss and 
tumble it about, now standing it upon end 
and batting it over with his paw and then 
rolling it over and over on the floor. 

The second object in the room that 
claimed his lasting attention was pussy, but 
she was much more animated than the 
sofa-pillow. The first time that the fuzzy 
little cub went up and smelled of her, she 
gave him a savage cuff on the nose, which 
sent him whining to his box, and he did 
not seek further acquaintance with pussy 
for several days. 

He would stand and look at her for five 
minutes at a time. This made the cat very 
uneasy, and she would go about from place 
to place, trying to get away from those 
small, bright, inquiring eyes. At last the 
cub again got up courage to sniff at the old 
cat, and this time she did not cuff him. 



The Cubhood of Black Bruin 7 J 

As long as he was respectful, she did not 
mind him, but when he got too playful or 
subjected her to indignities, pussy retaliated 
with that sharp cuff on the nose, which al- 
ways had the desired effect. 

Black Bruin, or Whiney, as he was some- 
times called when he was a small cub, soon 
learned to make his wants known. When 
he wished either milk or water, he would 
set up the most comical little whine, which 
was always effectual in getting it for him. 
One day he was given a saucer which had a 
little maple syrup in it, and his delight 
knew no bounds. After that he whined so 
long and frequently for syrup that he re- 
ceived his nickname of Whiney. 

In the cool April evenings as they sat 
about the fire, the master would often lift 
the small bear upon his knee, and let him 
sniff about his clothing, and lick his hand 
with his long, narrow red tongue. Then he 
would roll and tumble him about and 



76 Black Bruin 



Black Bruin would make believe to bite at 
his master and chew at his sleeves. Finally, 
these evening romps got to be a regular 
part of the farm-life, as much enjoyed by 
the master, as by the cub. 

When May came, and it was warmer, so 
that the doors leading to the wood-shed and 
the porch were left open, the little bear's 
world grew apace. Before, his horizon had 
been the four walls of the kitchen ; now he 
could go and come as he pleased, about the 
yard and in the outbuildings. 

He made the acquaintance of Hecla, the 
old hound, while he was still a prisoner in 
the kitchen, but they came to know each 
other better when the cub got out of doors. 
At first, the dog was inclined to attack the 
small bundle of bear-meat, but her master 
calmed her anger, and explained to her, as 
best he could, that Black Bruin was one of 
the family and should be treated with re- 
spect and consideration. So finally she be- 



The Cubhood of Black Bruin 77 

came reconciled to his presence, but she 
never could get over his scent, which al- 
ways filled her with suspicion. 

When the cub got out of doors where he 
could run about and exercise, he began to 
grow very rapidly in stature. Before, he 
had been a football or a bundle of fur, but 
now he began to put on the semblance of a 
bear. 

He also developed a great genius for mis- 
chief. If I should tell of all the things he 
overturned or upset, this chapter would be 
endless. 

A naturalist, who has reared several bear- 
cubs, says, " If you have an enemy, give 
him a bear-cub. His punishment will be 
adequate, no matter what his offense." But 
the young farmer and his wife did not think 
so, and as for the baby who was now learn- 
ing to walk, " Bar-Bar," as he called the 
young bruin, was a never-ending source of 
delight. 



78 Black Bruin 



He would bury his wee hands in the 
fuzzy hair of the cub and pull with all his 
might, and the cub would growl with make- 
believe fury, but it seemed to know that the 
baby did not intend to hurt it, and did not 
offer to bite. When the baby pulled its 
ears too hard, it would simply run away. 

Outside, in the farmyard, among the 
chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese, at first 
the cub was rather shy, for the gobbler tur- 
key, the gander and the rooster all set upon 
him and drove him whining into the wood- 
shed ; but he soon learned that all were 
afraid of his paws, when he stood upon his 
hind legs and really hit out with them, so 
after that discovery, he was master of all 
the feathered folk about the farmhouse. 

All about the farm-buildings the little 
bear followed his master. But best of all 
he liked to go to the stable and watch the 
milking, for in one corner was a small dish, 
into which he knew a pint of warm milk 



The Cubhood of Black Bruin 79 

would be poured as soon as milking was 
done. 

One morning the farmer heard a great 
noise in the hen-house. The hens were 
kedacuting for dear life and he hastened to 
the scene of the disturbance. What he dis- 
covered was both ludicrous and annoying, 
for there by one of the nests was his small 
bear in the act of pawing out an egg, while 
the empty shell of another upon the 
ground told only too plainly that he had 
discovered the use of eggs. 

After that the hen-house was never quite 
safe from him. Whenever he was caught 
inside, he was punished, but hens' nests 
that he found out-of-doors were considered 
his natural plunder. 

June came, and the latter part of the 
month the bear-shadow followed its master 
into the hayfleld. Here it made a dis- 
covery that was much to its liking. 

The bear was sniffing about as usual, 



80 Black Bruin 



poking his nose into all the holes and 
bushes, when a low humming in the grass 
near by caught his ear. 

It was a sound that has made bears smile 
ever since the first bear licked up his first 
taste of honey. So Black Bruin crept 
cautiously forward to investigate. As he 
advanced, the humming grew louder and 
presently a small fury darted out at him. 

It was not much larger than a fly, but 
it gave him such a pin-prick in the nose 
that he was angry, and so struck it down 
into the grass, and crushed the life out of 
it with his swift paw. Then he crept 
closer to the humming and buzzing, which 
was now quite ominous. Soon more of 
the little furies came buzzing out, all of 
which he killed as he had the first. 

When the bee-hunter had crushed the 
dozen bees comprising the nest, he dug 
down to the secret hidden in the roots of 
the grass and found that it was much 



The Cubhood of Black Bruin 81 

sweeter than the maple s}^rup which they 
had given him at the farmhouse. The nest 
was also full of white eggs or grubs which 
were quite palatable. After that day, 
Black Bruin was a persistent hunter for 
bumblebees' nests. 

From the bumblebees' nest to the hives 
of the honeybees in the orchard back of 
the house was a very natural step, but the 
farmer had not dreamed that the bear 
would discover the secret of the small 
white houses. 

One afternoon he heard a great humming 
of the bees in the orchard, and, thinking 
they were swarming, put on his bee-veil 
and went to investigate. The sight that 
met his eyes filled him with both mirth 
and wrath. There upon the ground was 
one of the hives overturned and pulled 
apart. Many of the partly filled sections 
were thus exposed, while others were empty 
of both comb and honey. 



82 Black Bruin 



The thief, who was none other than 
Black Bruin, w r as holding up a section be- 
tween his paws, while with his supple red 
tongue he licked out the contents. Al- 
though the bees were swarming about him 
in a black cloud and doing their best to 
punish the thief, he paid little attention to 
them but licked away for dear life. 

Upon his droll countenance was a look 
of such supreme delight, that the angry 
farmer ended by laughing heartily ; but 
after that experience he surrounded the 
beehives with a stout barbed wire fence. 

About the middle of July, or perhaps a 
little later, a neighbor's children took 
Black Bruin to the blueberry lot. 

They had often romped and played with 
him, and he was glad to go, although he 
could not be coaxed to follow a stranger. 
He shuffled along in his droll bear manner, 
often stopping to sniff under a stone or in 
some corner, where his wild instinct told 



The Cubhood of Black Brain 83 

him that there might be something inter- 
esting. 

Arrived at the berry-field, the children 
began picking and for a time Bruin sat 
upon his haunches and watched them, his 
red tongue lolling out, for it was a hot mid- 
summer day. 

Finally, one of the children picked a 
handful of berries and offered them to 
their four-footed companion, thinking it 
would be a good joke upon him. To their 
surprise, he not only lapped up the berries 
with keen satisfaction, but asked in plain 
bear language for more. 

He was so much pleased with the flavor 
of the new food that he finally put his 
long red tongue into their pails, and they 
had to box his ears severely. Then he 
went and sat down a little way off, seem- 
ingly much abused. 

Soon the children heard a noise in a bush 
near by, as if some one was picking, so they 



84 Black Bruin 



went to investigate. They found Black 
Bruin standing upon his hind legs, while 
with both paws and his long tongue he 
scooped the blueberries into his wide-open 
mouth. He was bending and thrashing the 
bush about to get it where he wanted it, and 
did not see that he was observed. Upon his 
droll bear face was written deep delight, for 
another of earth's riches had yielded to his 
inquisitive nose and paws. 

After that he was often one of the party 
when the children went berrying, but if the 
berries were scarce they preferred to leave 
him at home. He was quite independent, 
however, and often went berrying by himself. 

Blackberries he managed in the same 
manner, but when the thorns pricked his 
tongue, he would growl and look as- 
tonished, as much as to say, " Now what does 
that mean? I didn't see a bee about." 

Black Bruin also made other interesting- 
discoveries in the pasture. One day, either 



The Cubhood of Black Bruin 85 

by chance or design, he turned over a small 
rotten log and found that on the under side 
it was swarming with ants and grubs. Then 
how his tongue did fly as he licked them 
up and how the ants scampered in every 
direction trying to hide before he should 
get them ! 

But ants and grubs were not the only 
game under the logs. One day when he 
had turned over a larger log than usual, he 
was astonished to see a tiny four-footed 
creature run squeaking out. Black Bruin 
hopped clumsily after the field-mouse. Pat, 
pat went his heavy paws, but the mouse ran 
this way and that, dodging and squeaking, 
and several times he missed, although by 
this time he was quite expert with his paws. 
Finally he landed fairly upon the poor 
mouse, and its life was crushed out. Then 
he swooped it into his hungry mouth, and 
found it much better than grubs and ants. 
After that, whenever a mouse ran out from 



86 Black Brain 



under a log or stone that he overturned, he 
made a desperate effort to get it. 

One day while sniffing about a hollow 
log, as was his wont, the bear discovered 
still a new scent that was neither grubs, 
ants nor field-mice, so he began tearing the 
log apart, for it was quite rotten. 

He had been at work but a few minutes, 
when with a great chipping a small striped 
animal, several times larger than the field- 
mouse, ran between his legs and scurried 
away in the grass. Although much aston- 
ished, the bear hurried in hot pursuit. This 
little creature, like the mouse, ran hither 
and thither, dodging and twisting. Finally 
after several misses, he landed his paw 
squarely upon it and the hunter had bagged 
his first chipmunk. 

This game was so much larger than the 
field-mouse that he thought it well worth 
while, and after that whenever he scented 
a chipmunk about a log or stone wall, he 




'■;• J 






The Bear Hurried in Hot Pursuit 



The Cuhhood of Black Bruin 87 

would spend an hour, if need be, until he 
was satisfied that he could not get at it. 

Finally the summer passed and the au- 
tumn came, and the bear-cub followed the 
children to the woods for chestnuts, beech- 
nuts and walnuts. 

He, too, learned the secret of the sweet 
meat under the hard exterior. Beechnuts 
he would discover and eat by himself, but 
walnuts and butternuts he could not crack, 
and as for chestnuts, he wanted them taken 
out of their prickly jackets before he could 
eat them. Here in the deep woods the bear 
also discovered several roots which were 
to his liking, so he was always nosing about 
in the dead leaves, for if he didn't find nuts, 
he would find roots. 

Thus passed the cubhood of Black Bruin, 
and, from a fuzzy mite, whining for his 
saucer of milk, he grew into a sturdy cub, 
strong and self-reliant, able to forage and 
hunt for himself. 



88 



Black Brain 



Without training from any parent, he 
learned some of the things that it was 
necessary for him to know in the fields and 
forest. Thus the instinct of his bear ances- 
tors asserted its power in the pampered and 
spoiled pet of the farmhouse, and if he had 
chosen, he could probably have taken care 
of himself as a real wild bear. But he did 
not care to do so, although he had every 
chance to run away ; there was something 
always calling to him at the farmhouse. 

The people there had been good to him. 
In the wood-shed was his nest, and no mat- 
ter how far away he roamed during the 
daytime, night always found him back at 
the house, begging for milk, and taking 
caresses at the farmer's hands. 

These good people had been so large a 
part of his helpless days that he could not 
leave them now, although the deep green 
depths of the woods were probably calling 
to him, as this was his natural home. 



CHAPTER V 
A ROLLICKING ROGUE 



CHAPTER V 

A ROLLICKING ROGUE 

About Thanksgiving time Black Bruin 
suddenly disappeared, and although the 
premises were searched, no trace of him 
could be found. 

Finally, after two or three da}^s, his mas- 
ter gave up the hunt, concluding that the 
bear had obeyed the wild instinct in his 
nature and returned to the woods. He had 
no doubt that he was snugly curled up in 
some hollow tree where he would sleep 
away the winter months. Whether he 
would ever return to them or not, was a 
matter of conjecture. 

All the family mourned his loss, espe- 
cially the baby, who cried half a day for 
" Bar-Bar," as he called the bear. 



9 2 



Black Bruin 



One cold December evening when the 
farmer was bedding down the horse, he im- 
agined he heard a deep, steady breathing 
under the barn floor, and after listening for 
some time, was sure of it. His first 
thought was that some neighbor's dog had 
gone under the barn to sleep, so he went 
and lifted up a trap-door that led to the 
cellar, which was not deep. 

He whistled for the dog to come out, but 
no dog appeared. He could still hear the 
breathing and was much mystified by it, so 
he got a lantern and went under the barn 
to settle his doubts. 

To his great astonishment he found 
Black Bruin curled up in one corner, 
nearly covered with old hay that he had 
scraped together for the purpose. 

He was very sleepy, and only grunted 
when the man touched him with his foot 
and spoke to him. As he seemed well con- 
tent with the winter quarters that he had 



A Rollicking Rogue 93 

selected, the man left him and went back to 
his chores. 

Not until the middle of March did he 
again appear, although different members 
of the family often went to the trap-door 
and called for him to come out. He seemed 
to be obeying a strongly rooted habit in 
the bear nature, and he doubtless knew 
what was best for a sturdy cub like him- 
self. 

One warm March morning the mistress 
thought she heard some one in the back 
room, and supposing that a neighbor had 
come in, opened the door. 

The intruder was no stranger to the 
family, for there was Black Bruin, standing 
on his hind legs, licking off the sticky out- 
side of a maple-syrup pail. He had re- 
membered his old delight in syrup. 

Perhaps he had even got a whiff of the 
sweet on the spring air, and his nose had 
told him what was going on. The bear's 



94 Black Bruin 



scent is very keen, and this and his acute 
hearing make up for his poor eyesight. 

Black Bruin, on his reappearance, was at 
once taken back into the family's affection, 
and petted and spoiled, all of which seemed 
to suit him admirably. 

For a week or two, however, he would 
eat very little, and appeared to come to 
his appetite gradually. At first the good 
people thought he was sick, but an old 
woodsman explained to them that the bear 
was always fastidious after hibernation. In 
the wild state he will eat only buds and 
grasses, and perhaps a very few roots. He 
is wise, after the way of the wild beasts, 
and knows that his digestive organs are 
not in condition to do hard work ; but 
when the right hour comes, he will have 
a meal that will make up for much fast- 
ing. 

The roguishness and capacity for mis- 
chief that Black Bruin had shown during 



A Rollicking Rogue 99 

his first year of cubhood, increased tenfold, 
as he grew older and stronger. 

Tree-climbing, which he had learned late 
in the summer of his first year, became a 
passion with him. He climbed the elms 
and the maples along the road and the fruit 
trees in the orchard. In the barn, too, he 
clambered about on the scaffolds and pried 
into all the corners with his inquisitive 
nose. 

A neighbor's boy often came to the farm- 
house to romp and wrestle with the bear- 
cub. Nothing pleased him more than a 
rough-and-tumble, and he was quite an ex- 
pert wrestler, once he learned how to floor 
his adversary. 

Whenever two or three boys came into 
the farmyard, if Black Bruin was anywhere 
about, he would shuffle up to them and 
rearing upon his hind legs, invite them, in 
the plainest language, " to come on." 

His master also taught him to hold a 



96 Black Brain 



broom in his arms in imitation of a gun, 
and march up and down like a soldier. 
When this feat was performed by their 
shaggy friend, the children would shout 
with delight, at which the cub would loll 
out his tongue and seem greatly pleased. 
He appeared to understand clearly that they 
thought him the smartest bear in the 
world. 

His old trick of hunting for hens' nests 
now recurred to him, and he returned to it 
with renewed zest. In fact, Black Bruin 
seemed not to forget any of his many forms 
of mischief, but rapidly acquired new ones 
as well. 

He not only hunted hens' nests outside, 
but frequently broke into the hen-house, 
just like any other chicken thief, and ate 
eggs freety. 

He always skulked into a corner when 
caught and seemed to expect the thrashing 
that he got for such thieving. 



A Rollicking Rogue 97 

He followed the farm-hands into the hay- 
field, as he had done the year before, to 
look for bumblebees' nests, but he was not 
content with lawful plunder. 

One day the haymakers took their din- 
ner to a distant field where they expected to 
spend the day. All went well until the 
dinner-hour came, when it was discovered 
that Black Brain had tipped over the 
coffee jug, pulled out the cork, and probably 
licked up the sweetened fluid. He had 
also opened the dinner-basket, and only a 
few crumbs and some pickles remained of 
what would have been dinner for three 
men. 

To add insult to injury, the vagabond 
was lying asleep upon the farmer's coat 
which he had thrown upon the ground, 
having a fine nap after his hearty meal. 

There was nothing to do but for all hands 
to go back to the farmhouse for dinner. 

The farmer had surrounded his beehives 



98 Black Bruin 



with a strong, high, barbed wire fence, and 
had thought them quite safe even from 
the prying curiosity of his bear-cub, but one 
day he found out differently. 

On hearing a great humming about the 
hives, as though the bees were swarming, 
he went to investigate. There in the midst 
of the hives was the old honey thief. He 
had dug a hole in the ground and had 
crawled under the barbed wire fence. 
Two of the hives were overturned and 
pulled to pieces, and the contents of half a 
dozen sections licked out. 

This was almost too much to bear, but 
the good-natured farmer dug a trench un- 
der the fence, and placed another barbed 
wire lower down, and the bees were safe for 
a time. 

Sweet apples and pears were also to 
Black Bruin's liking. This was all right 
in itself, but it led to other things. 

One summer morning while the farmer 



A Rollicking Rogue 99 

was milking, he was startled by hearing 
apples coming down in showers from the 
Golden Sweet tree back of the barn. Think- 
ing that some mischievous boy had climbed 
the tree and was shaking off apples for 
sport, he rushed into the back yard, deter- 
mined to punish the offender severely. 

" Here, you rascal," he shouted as he 
neared the tree, " what in the world are 
you trying to do ? " 

The shaking in the tree ceased immedi- 
ately, but at first the man could not locate 
the truant. Finally he discovered Black 
Bruin away up in the top of the tree, where 
he was well screened by the thick foliage. 

" Come down here/' cried the farmer 
in considerable wrath. " Come down here 
and I'll give you a good drubbing." 

Black Bruin clearly understood from 
the man's tone that he was angry, so he 
stayed where he was. 

The man then threw apples at him, but 



ioo Black Brain 



they had no more effect upon the culprit 
than did the grass upon the bad boy in 
the fable ; so the farmer got a long pole 
and prodded the apple thief until he whined 
and came scratching down the tree. 

Black Bruin was very fond of the Golden 
Sweets, especially when they were baked, 
and probably thinking that there were not 
enough on the ground for family use, he 
had taken matters into his own hands. 
He seemed very penitent, however, so the 
family finally forgave him, as they had 
done so many times before. 

When the following week he tried the 
same tactics upon a winter pear-tree, the 
consequences were more serious. Black 
Bruin not only got a good drubbing for the 
prank, but his master secured a dog-collar 
and chained him to a maple-tree in the 
yard. 

For a while he pulled and sulked, but 
finally, seeing that it was useless, he yielded 



A Rollicking Rogue 101 

to the chain. He would beg so hard, 
though, to be let loose whenever any one 
went through the yard, that he was always 
allowed to be unchained and go free, when 
the family were about and could watch him. 

Once the chain and collar, together with 
the bear's uneasiness, nearly cost the cub's 
life. He would climb up the tree to which 
he was tied as far as the chain would allow 
him to go, and, while playing various 
antics on the lower limbs of the tree, he 
fell. The chain was on one side of the 
limb and he was on the other, where he 
dangled like a culprit on the gallows. 

He kicked and choked and tried des- 
perately to catch the limb with his fore- 
paws, but it was just out of reach and 
there seemed nothing for him to do but 
strangle. 

The tighter the collar grew and the 
shorter became his breath the more he 
kicked and thrashed, until finally the 



io2 Black Bruin 



collar broke, and the half-strangled bear 
fell to the ground with a great thud. Feel- 
ing that he had been cruelly treated aid 
insulted, he picked himself up with a groan 
and a growl, and making for the woods, 
was not seen again for two days. 

Finally Black Bruin returned to his 
friends, having had enough of wild life for 
that time. He seemed delighted to see 
them again and wanted to be petted more 
than ever, and, as if to make amends for 
his recent bad behavior, was very good for 
a couple of weeks. 

One day the farmer took a super of honey 
from one of the hives in the back yard, 
and, as a sort of reward of merit, gave Black 
Bruin a pound for his share. 

This was an imprudent act upon the part 
of the bear's master, for honey to the bear 
is what whisky is to the drunkard. Not 
that it intoxicated him, but he craved it 
with an almost insatiate desire. 



A Rollicking Rogue 103 

This pound was but a taste, so he fell to 
watching the hives again and perhaps plot- 
ting as to how he might get at their con- 
tents. But the hives seemed quite safe. 
They were surrounded by a barbed wire 
fence six feet high. They were located 
under a broad spreading apple-tree, how- 
ever, and this fact gave Black Bruin his 
chance. 

He waited until the farmer had gone to a 
distant field to work, then climbed into the 
tree, and out on a long limb that overhung 
the hives. 

The limb bent lower and lower until it 
nearly touched the barbed wire fence, but it 
was just strong enough for him to make the 
spring and land in the midst of the hives. 

The good housewife heard the humming 
and buzzing as the bees swarmed out to 
punish the intruder, and looking out of the 
back window, discovered the thief. 

Not much damage had been done, as he 



104 Black Bruin 



had been detected almost at the outset ; but 
one thing was now certain ; the hives 
would not be safe from Black Bruin any 
longer. 

So the farmer repaired the broken collar 
and again secured the bear to the maple, and 
once more he took up the life of a convict. 

But it must not be imagined that Black 
Bruin led a very lonely life even upon the 
chain, for the children frequently took him 
berrying, or to the deep woods for nuts. 

When the apples had been picked and 
most of the honev taken from the hives, he 
was again given the freedom of the place to 
come and go as he wished. 

But the very worst of all Black Bruin's 
mischief and thieving came about the 
second week in November, when he had 
been upon his good behavior for several 
weeks, and the family hoped that he had 
reformed. 

One night the household was awakened 



A Rollicking Rogue 105 

by the most violent and persistent squeal- 
ing of a pig. It did not seem to be any of 
the pigs at the farm, but the sound came 
from down the road and it steadily drew 
nearer to the buildings. 

What it all meant the farmer could not 
imagine, so he hurriedly dressed and went 
out-of-doors to find out. 

He was just in time to see Black Bruin 
come shambling into the yard carrying a 
pig, of perhaps twelve pounds' weight, in 
his mouth. He was holding him by one 
hind leg and the load was so heavy that 
the culprit could barely keep the poor pig's 
nose from dragging on the ground. 

The farmer at once went to his assistance 
and rescued him, to the great disgust of 
Black Bruin, who growled and plainly gave 
his master to understand that he considered 
the pig his own property. He had not got 
him out of the home sty, so that his master 
had no right to interfere. 



io6 Black Bruin 



Again Black Bruin paid the penalty for 
misbehavior and was chained up, while 
next morning, the farmer had the humilia- 
tion of carrying the pig home. 

After about a week more of life upon the 
chain, the culprit slipped his collar and 
disappeared. This time the farmer re- 
membered his disappearance of the fall be- 
fore and finally looked under the barn, 
where he found him curled up for his 
winter's sleep. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE LIFE OF A DANCING-BEAR 



CHAPTER VI 

THE LIFE OF A DANCING-BEAR 

About the first of April, the third year 
of his adventurous life, a sense of some- 
thing that he craved was borne in upon 
the deep slumber of Black Bruin, or per- 
haps it was only the returning warmth that 
awakened him. 

In either event he awoke, yawned, 
stretched himself and turned about in his 
nest under the horse-barn. He felt stiff 
and cramped, as one had a right to, who 
had been sleeping since about Thanksgiv- 
ing time. 

Finally he got up, and going to a crack 
in the cellar wall, sniffed the breeze, which 
came in quite freely. This was always his 
way when he wanted to find out what was 



no Black Brain 



going on. His nose was a much surer 
guide in most matters than his eyesight. 

What the fresh spring wind told him was 
evidently to his liking, for his tongue 
lolled out, his mouth dripped saliva, and 
he went at once to the trap-door leading up- 
stairs, and pushed it open with his shoulder. 

In the cozy farmhouse kitchen, an event 
that fills the heart of the average country 
hoy or girl with delight, was in progress. 

Upon the kitchen range was placed a 
large galvanized iron s} 7 rup-pan. In it was 
three or four inches of golden maple syrup, 
which danced and steamed and broke in 
little mountains of yellow bubbles, some- 
thing the color of sunlight. 

This was the amber toll from the rock- 
maple, discovered long ago by the Indian, 
whose primitive methods have been so 
greatly improved upon by the white man. 
But there are still very remote places in 
Canada, where the old-fashioned slash in 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 1 1 1 

the tree, into which a wedge is driven, has 
not been superseded by spiles and buckets. 

Several of the neighborhood children 
were gathered at the farmhouse kitchen 
and jollity ran high. 

Suddenly the door leading to the wood- 
shed flew open, and there in the doorway 
stood Black Bruin. With a shout of de- 
light they rushed upon him, eager to greet 
and caress their wilderness pet. 

For a week or two, as usual when coming 
forth from his long sleep, Black Bruin was 
rather inactive, and did not want much to 
eat ; but by degrees his spirits returned, 
and it was evident from the size and 
strength now acquired, that he was to be 
more of a rogue and bother than he had 
ever been before. 

But even his warmest admirers, the 
neighborhood children, who always took 
his part, no matter what he did, were not 
prepared for his next antic. 



112 Black Bruin 



Of course it was impossible for his 
friends, who had not been sleeping and go- 
ing without food for several months, to say 
just how hungry the culprit was, or how 
strong the blood lust was upon him. 

There had been pig-killing at the farm- 
house, and the bear had eaten some of the 
refuse meat. This had only whetted his 
appetite for more, so he did some pig- 
killing on his own account. 

One morning a neighboring farmer, 
very much excited, rushed into the yard 
and accused Black Bruin of stealing a 
small pig that morning from his sty. Al- 
though the family protested stoutly that he 
must be mistaken, a search of the premises 
showed that their pet was missing. 

The bear's master thought best to settle 
for the pig, but even then the neighbor 
was much put out, and promised to try the 
effect of a rifle upon the thief the next 
time he should appear. 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 1 1 3 

The marauder did not return to the farm- 
house all that day, but came slinking home 
late in the evening and went at once to his 
den in the wood-shed. Again he was 
chained to the maple in the front yard, and 
forced to live the life of a prisoner. But 
he was now getting so strong that any 
ordinary collar would not hold, and he 
soon broke away and again went upon a 
foraging expedition. This time his choice 
was mutton, and his master had to pay for 
a pet sheep that he had taken from a 
neighbor's back yard. 

This was getting serious, and the bear's 
master was thinking of corresponding with 
the keeper of a zoo or menagerie, to see if 
he could give his troublesome pet away, 
when Pedro Alsandro appeared upon the 
scene, and the whole tenor of Black 
Bruin's life was changed. 

Pedro was an Italian peddler, carrying 
two large packs. He was a small man 



ii4 Black Bruin 



with a swarthy olive-colored skin, and dark 
beady eyes, set rather too close together. 

He appeared one warm April morning, 
and in the usual lingo of his kind, invited 
the good people at the farmhouse to " buy 
something." 

When his pack had been overhauled and 
a few small purchases concluded, the peddler 
noticed Black Bruin, and he at once took 
his fancy. His greed was also appealed to 
by seeing the bear perform his tricks. 
Pedro had once owned a dancing-bear, but 
it had run away from him to escape harsh 
treatment. 

" Why should I lug these heavy packs 
about," he thought, " when I could make 
twice the money, merely by leading this 
bear from town to town ? " 

So the Italian set to work to gain the 
confidence of the bear and as he had had 
considerable experience with his kind, it 
was not long before he had petted and 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 1 1 5 

bribed his way into Black Bruin's good- 
will. 

" You buy someting me, I buy someting, 
this bear," he finally said to the farmer. 

This proposition was greeted by some 
neighbors' children with a chorus of wails 
and the housewife too objected, but to the 
farmer, who was much perplexed to know 
what to do with the bear, it seemed like 
quite a Providential opening. 

" What you do with him, Pedro ? " he 
asked, for he was as much attached to the 
rogue as he would have been to a dog that 
he had raised from puppyhood. 

" I make heem one fine dancing-bear," re- 
plied Pedro, " I teach heem lots treeks. He 
jes walk long, eat lots, sleep lots, have good 
time." 

" Will you be good to him, Pedro?" 
asked the housewife, for she hated to think 
of the bear's having an}^ but considerate 
treatment. 



n6 Black Bruin 



" Y-e-a-r-r— lady," replied Pedro. " I 
feed heem much sugar, much peanut and 
much banan. He good bar, I keep heem 
careful and good." 

So Pedro finally left a part of the contents 
of one of his packs in exchange for the 
bear, and went upon his way with a lighter 
pack, hi one hand he held a stout rope, 
the other end of which was fastened in 
Black Bruin's collar. 

The poor bear continually looked back 
and whined as they went down the road, 
but Pedro coaxed and bribed him with 
sugar, that he had brought along for the 
purpose, until he was out of sight of the 
house. 

Once beyond the reach of interference 
upon the part of his recent master, the 
Italian cut a stout heavy stick and 
sharpened one end, and with that as a goad, 
he drove the bear relentlessly before him. 
Instead of coaxing there were henceforth 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 117 

sharp thrusts with the point of the stick 
and savage blows upon the head. 

At first Black Bruin was furious at such 
treatment, for had he not been spoiled and 
petted all his life ? He soon saw, however, 
that this man was a new and terrible crea- 
ture to be obeyed instantly, and one whose 
wrath it was not well to provoke by pulling 
back or sulking. 

For several hours they journe} r ed on in 
this manner, until a small village was 
reached. Here the peddler disposed of the 
remaining goods in his two packs at a 
country store, and went into business as the 
keeper of a dancing-bear. 

That night the two slept in an old barn, 
curled down in the hay, and nestled closely 
together for warmth. 

When his deep breathing told the bear 
that his new master was sleeping soundly, 
he crawled carefully out of their nest and 
tried to slip away. But with a start Pedro 



n8 Black Bruin 



awoke and pulled savagely upon his collar, 
while with his stick he prodded him back 
into his nest. 

Truly this was a strange and terrible 
creature into whose hands he had fallen. 
He knew what was going on when he was 
asleep, as well as when he was awake. 
There would be no escape from him. The 
poor brute did not appreciate the fact that 
the Italian had tied the loose end of the 
rope about his wrist, so that the slightest 
tug upon it would awaken him. 

The following morning, Black Bruin be- 
gan his labors as bread-winner for both. At 
the first farmhouse they came to, Pedro 
stopped and in his broken English, offered 
to entertain the good country people with 
his bear in return for breakfast for both man 
and beast. 

The offer was promptly accepted and 
Pedro's companion was made to shoulder 
his make-believe gun and march up and 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 119 

down. Then he was given an egg to suck, 
and he carefully nicked a little piece in 
one end, and licked out the delicious con- 
tents. This w r as the trick that he liked best 
of all. 

Finally he got down on all fours and was 
horse for three children for several minutes. 
They would sit astride his back, with their 
small hands tightly clasping the bear's long, 
glossy hair, while Pedro slowly led him up 
and down. 

At last the breakfast was set before them 
and the poor bear, who had done all the 
work, was glad of his share of hot biscuit 
and maple syrup. 

When they were upon the road again, 
Pedro began teaching the bear new tricks, 
for the few that he already knew were not 
enough to satisfy his new master, who 
thought he saw considerable money in him. 

Whenever they came to a tree that was 
suitable for climbing, he would lead Black 



i2o Black Bruin 



Bruin up to it, and shout " climb," at the 
same time thrusting his pointed stick vi- 
ciously into the bear's hinder parts. 

At first, the bear remonstrated and 
growled, but he got such a drubbing and 
jabbing that he went whining up the tree, 
and when he would not come down Pedro 
threw stones at him, until he was glad to 
escape the missiles by obeying. 

Much practice of this trick soon made the 
bear a great tree-climber, and he would 
scratch up the tree at his best pace, at the 
slightest sign from the Italian. 

Next Pedro bought a bottle of ginger pop, 
which he sweetened considerably to make 
it even more palatable for the bear, and 
then slowly turned out a part of the con- 
tents for him to lick up. When this had 
been done, he put in the cork very slightly 
and held it up for the bear to lick. Of 
course the cork soon came out and more of 
the contents was spilled for the bear to drink. 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 1 2 1 

In this way by degrees he taught the brute 
that the cork must first come out and then 
there was sweet within. 

When the trick was finally mastered, the 
bear would stand upon his hind legs, take 
a bottle of ginger pop from a man's hand, 
hold it between his paws, pull out the cork 
with his teeth, and deliberately drink the 
contents. 

The performance of this trick got Pedro 
and the bear all the soda water and small 
drinks that they cared for at the country 
stores and hotels. Occasionally Pedro would 
push the cork in very tight to tease the 
performer, who would sometimes growl and 
box the bottle with his paw, to the great 
delight of the children. 

At first the bear did not like beer, but he 
soon learned, and would drink it down the 
same as any toper. 

Peanuts, pop-corn, corn-cake and candy 
he also learned to like, and his manner of 






122 Black Bruin 



eating these delicacies always amused the 
children. 

Sometimes when he had been doing tricks 
in a village for hours he would get very 
tired and lie down and sulk, when Pedro 
would beat and prod him cruelly. 

If the passers-by remonstrated with the 
Italian for treating his good bear in this 
manner, Pedro would make the excuse for 
cruelty so often heard in Italy, where very 
little consideration is shown animals. 

" Huh, lady/' he would say, " he no 
Christian, he just brute. Pedro, Christian, 
bear, brute, devil." 

Whenever Pedro and his companion 
entered a village, they were always followed 
by an admiring crowd of children. As 
many as could, would climb upon Black 
Bruin's back, and ride in triumph through 
the street, while dozens, who were less for- 
tunate, followed behind, shouting approval. 

Although it was quite a hardship for the 



The Life of a Dancing-Bear 1 23 

bear to carry such a load, yet the petting of 
the children was a great pleasure to him in 
these days of tribulation. It reminded him 
of the children at the farmhouse where 
every one had been so good to him. For, 
brute that he was, he was still amenable to 
kindness, and brutalized by brutality. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE VAGABONDS 



CHAPTER VII 

THE VAGABONDS 

Pedro and Black Bruin were vagabonds, 
going up and down the country as the 
spirit moved them, living like two tramps 
without home, shelter or friends, save as 
they made them by the way. 

Some nights they slept in haystacks, or 
in old barns. Sometimes they crawled into 
wagon sheds and slept upon loads of grain 
or produce that had been gotten ready for 
the morrow's marketing. More frequently 
they bivouacked in the open, under the blue 
canopy of heaven, merely sheltered a little 
by a friendly spruce or pine, with the 
silver moon for a lamp, and the bright stars 
for candles. The great shaggy beast and 
the little dark man slept in one bed, as it 



n8 Black Bruin 



were. Pedro usually pillowed his head 
upon Black Bruin and so the bear had to 
lie very still and not disturb his master, for 
he got a pounding if he did. 

Out here in the open all the night sounds 
came to them with startling distinctness; 
— the cry of the nighthawk and the chirping 
of a cricket, the peeping of hylas and the 
croaking of frogs and the wild, tremulous, 
mournful cry of the screech-owl. 

The night winds blew upon their faces 
and the fragrance of the dew-laden flowers 
was in their nostrils. Theirs was not a 
cramped, stifling existence, but a full free 
life, and the sense of living, breathing, 
growing things was everywhere, and it 
made them glad. 

The tan of wind and sun was upon 
Pedro's skin, making it even more swarthy. 

In the morning, when the first faint gray 
streak lit the east, and robins and thrushes 
began to sing, they were up and ready for 



The Vagabonds 129 

the day's work. Their toilet was very 
simple, — merely a wash and a drink of 
water from some neighboring brook, then 
they were ready for the road. 

This was just the hour to find all the 
thrifty farmers' families at breakfast and 
it was much easier to get something for 
themselves Avhen the table was spread for 
others. So Black Bruin danced and went 
through all his tricks, to the great delight of 
the children, that both he and Pedro might 
share the farmer's hospitality later. 

When they were unlucky and had to go 
without breakfast, Pedro blamed his shaggy 
companion and swore at him in broken 
English, or showered blows upon him with 
the stout stick which he always carried. 

Black Bruin soon learned to expect the 
blows and to cower from them and some- 
times even whimper, when his master was 
unusually harsh ; but in his heart, which was 
that of a wild beast, he was storing up wrath. 



130 Black Brain 



But there was something about the Italian 
that held him at bay as though with chains 
of steel. When Pedro's small glittering 
eyes were upon him, his own eyes fell. A 
kick would send him groveling to earth. 
In some unexplainable way he felt that 
this cruel creature was his master. He was 
subdued and held by a terrible grip. 

To the bear the man was always a mys- 
tery. There was something fearful about 
him that he could not fathom and his 
source of strength the poor beast could not 
understand. 

There was also an evil-smelling dark 
bottle in the Italian's inside coat-pocket, 
which was an enigma. It was not ginger 
pop or beer, or an y kind of soda water; 
Black Bruin knew all of these drinks him- 
self, and this drink was like none of them. 

One day Pedro had fallen into a strange 
deep sleep and the bottle had slipped from 
his pocket. The bear had at once noticed 



The Vagabonds 131 

it, picked it up and pulled out the cork, 
just as he would have done with a ginger 
pop bottle, and had taken a small swallow- 
But the strange stuff had burned his tongue 
and choked him. So he spat it out and 
broke the bottle with a single blow of his 
powerful paw. He finally licked up con- 
siderable of the whisky, as it was a hot 
day and he was thirsty. It had made him 
sleepy, so man and beast had lain down to- 
gether in a drunken stupor. 

After this day Black Bruin hated the 
bottle, oat of which Pedro drank so fre- 
quently. They were also unlucky in get- 
ting meals when his master did this, for 
the simple country folk did not like to 
lodge or feed them when the dark, sinister- 
looking man was half drunk. So in many 
ways the bottle brought them ill-luck. 

When Black Bruin and his companion 
began their wanderings from town to town, 
it was early spring-time. The buds were 



132 Black Bruin 



just beginning to redden upon the sugar- 
maple and the grass along sunny southern 
slopes, was putting on its first faint touch 
of green. The days were warm and sunny, 
promising buds and blossoms, but the nights 
were still clear and cold. 

At first they had to lie close together at 
night for warmth, or rather the man had 
to cuddle down close to his shaggy warm 
companion ; but spring soon passed and 
summer came and the two wanderers rev- 
eled in the lavish beauty and richness of 
nature. 

In many of the pastures blueberries grew 
in profusion and Black Bruin needed no 
teaching to get his share of the palatable 
fruit. Along all the country roads, grow- 
ing upon the stone walls and fences, were 
delicious red raspberries, which are much 
finer flavored than the cultivated kinds. 
Later on, when August laid her golden 
treasures in the lap of Mother Earth, the 



The Vagabonds 133 

blackberries ripened in wild profusion. 
First in the open pasture came the low 
bushberries, and then the high bushberries 
along the edge of the forest. 

Last of all came autumn with its treas- 
ures of harvest, fruits, nuts, melons and 
grains. 

Wild grapes they found in abundance 
and all the nut-bearing trees rattled down 
their treasures for them. The melon-patch, 
the pound sweeting tree, the peach-orchard 
and the turnip-field all paid toll to the 
vagabonds. So, in spite of harsh treatment 
and hard work, Black Bruin laid on his 
usual layers of fat, against the long sleep 
of the coming winter. 

What wonderful days these were when 
they wandered lazily from village to vil- 
lage, through long stretches of flaming red 
and golden forest, where the roadway was 
spread with a most gorgeous leaf-carpet. 

They heard the jay squalling in the corn- 



134 Black Bruin 



field, and the crows gathering in the clan 
for their annual caucus. The squirrels 
chattered in the trees above them, but their 
old friends, the song-birds, had nearly all 
flown away to the South to escape the on- 
coming winter. 

When Jack Frost and the merry north 
winds had robbed the trees of the last of 
their foliage and they stood out grim and 
gaunt against the bleak November sky ; 
when the last purple asters and the hardiest 
bright goldenrod had faded, Black Bruin 
felt the old winter drowsiness slowly steal- 
ing upon him. 

At last the first snow-storm came and 
that settled it in both the minds of Pedro 
and the bear. So the Italian led his com- 
panion far up into a wilderness region, and 
after searching about for half a day among 
the ledges found a natural cave which was 
about the size of a small room, and here left 
Black Bruin to sleep away the winter months. 



The Vagabonds 135 

He stayed in the region just long enough 
to make sure that the winter drowsiness 
had clutched him and also took the precau- 
tion to roll against the entrance of the 
cave, a large stone, which he had to move 
with a lever, that he might be sure of find- 
ing his partner in Vagabondia when he re- 
turned for him in the early spring. Pedro 
would take the precaution to come back 
a few days before the bear would naturally 
awaken. 

A day or two after Black Bruin was left 
alone in his cavern a heavy storm set in, and 
before it ceased, a foot of snow had fallen. 

It was now so deep that the passer-by 
would never have guessed that a bear was 
soundly sleeping a few feet back of the 
boulder which Pedro had placed at the en- 
trance of the cave. This now merely 
looked like a white snowdrift that some 
freak of the wind had piled upon the 
mountainside. 



i3 6 Black Brain 



In the dark and the silence of his under- 
ground room Black Bruin slept through 
the winter blizzards and cold as well as he 
would have done in warmer and more com- 
fortable quarters. No sound broke the 
silence of his cave save his own deep 
breathing. If the sun shone, or the winds 
howled, or the storms beat, he knew it 
not. 

Perhaps in dreamland he still wandered 
up and down the country picking blue- 
berries or poking under the dead leaves for 
nuts, and always and forever doing tricks 
until his legs and back ached. 

As for Pedro, he had no idea of hiber- 
nating, so he went away to a distant city 
and worked for a fellow countryman in a 
fruit store. 

But work was not to his liking and he 
longed for spring to come that he and his 
companion might again be upon the road 
living the old free life. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE BEAST AND THE MAN 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE BEAST AND THE MAN 

A sense of pain and annoyance pene- 
trated the deep sleep of Black Bruin, and 
with a growl and a start he awoke. When 
he had fallen asleep his mountain cavern 
had been quite dark. It had always been 
dark when he awoke and stretched himself, 
but now the full glory of daylight was 
streaming in. 

There before him, dark, sinister and for- 
bidding as ever, stood Pedro, and in his 
hand was the sharpened stick with which 
he had been prodding him, causing him to 
awaken. 

As Black Bruin arose in response to his 
blows, he shook himself, and stretched first 
one cramped leg and then another, which 



140 Black Bruin 



were stiff after his long sleep. Pedro could 
not help but notice how he had grown 
and what a great brute he was getting 
to be. 

" Holy saints," he ejaculated, "but he is 
one pig deevil-bear. I must club heem and 
prod heem much, or he eat me. He em 
one deevil." 

Black Bruin felt a sense of irritation at 
the coming of his master and followed him 
sullenly as he led the way out of the winter 
quarters into the full day. How sweet and 
fresh was the air and how bright and 
beautiful the world. Then, for the first 
time, there came an almost overpowering 
longing for freedom. He had often felt it 
slightly, but now it nearly mastered him 
and he all but broke into open rebellion. 

The deep woods were calling to him. 
The wild free life was his by right. He 
was no dog to be led about upon a chain, 
and to go and come at the beck of man. 



The Beast and the Man 141 

He was a wild beast whose home was the 
wilderness, and this cruel creature, who 
tyrannized over him, and prodded him, for 
whom he did tricks day after day, had 
stolen away his freedom. 

Of course Black Bruin did not think 
these thoughts in just this way. To him 
they were dim and inexpressible ; he only 
felt a wild rage at being restrained and 
made a captive and a hot desire to be off. 

So it was with this ill-disguised humor 
that he followed his master from town to 
town and did his tricks. 

Pedro, on the other hand, felt that the 
bear was becoming morose and that his 
spirit must be broken, so he prodded and 
beat him until his life was almost unbear- 
able. 

One evening the two camped near the 
edge of a spruce woods. Along one side of 
the road ran a turbulent stream, which was 
at the bottom of a deep gorge. At several 



142 Black Bruin 



points one could look down from fifty to 
one hundred feet to the water, foaming and 
lashing and rushing upon its way. For a 
part of the distance the bank was almost 
perpendicular, and here the passer-by was 
protected from falling into the abyss by a 
railing that was spiked to posts or convenient 
trees. 

To-night, Pedro was sleeping soundly, his 
head pillowed upon his great coat, that he 
carried in the spring and fall against in- 
clement weather. He no longer pillowed 
his head upon Black Bruin, who was 
chained to a near-by tree. The beast now 
also wore a muzzle and this was one more 
grievance which he nourished in his heart 
against the time of vengeance. 

Black Bruin was not asleep, but was 
watching first his master and then the flick- 
ering light of their camp-fire. As he 
watched and pondered, the tyranny of his 
chain and muzzle grew upon him. The 



The Beast and the Man 143 

muzzle galled his nose and the chain was a 
continual reminder of his slaveiy. Pedro 
had prodded and clubbed him this spring 
until his body was sore. He no longer had 
the slightest spark of affection for the man, 
but instead a fearful hate that burned in 
his breast like living coals. 

The sound of Pedro's deep breathing also 
filled him with a terrible rage. It seemed 
as if he could feel all the prods that he had 
received from the stick at once, and each 
stung him with a new pain. His breath 
came thick and hot and his eyes glowed 
with all the deep intensity of hate ; —hate, 
that had long smouldered, fed with con- 
tinual fuel, but always kept in check, only 
at last to break out in a conflagration, sweep- 
ing all before it. 

At length raging, yet fearful, Black Bruin 
backed away to the full length of his chain 
and began straining upon it with all his 
might. It choked him until he could no 



144 Black Bruin 



longer breathe. Then he stopped for a 
moment to recover his breath, and went at 
the chain again. 

For half an hour he tugged and strained, 
choking and gagging until at last the ring- 
in his collar pulled out and he was free 
from the chain. But he was not free as 
long as that sleeping demon by the fire still 
had strength to pursue and recapture him. 
He never would be free until he had killed 
him. 

Next he lay down and began tugging at 
his muzzle. That too choked him as he 
pulled upon it, and he nearly strangled in 
the process of wrenching it off, but finally 
the hated thing lay upon the ground, with 
the strong wires bent and the strap broken. 

Then Black Bruin crept forward to 
within three or four feet of where Pedro 
lay heavily sleeping, and stood there, 
watching his master. He felt sure that 
with one blow of his paw he could cripple 



The Beast and the Man 145 

him, but he could not bring himself to 
strike that blow. The man might have 
some new and terrible hidden power that 
he knew not of. He had seen him do 
strange things and there might be still 
others that he had not yet tried. Could he 
not make fire out of sticks that really had 
no warmth in them ? There was something 
fearful about a creature who could do such 
things. 

But one thing was certain ; — Pedro 
would not strike him again. The growing 
rage in his brute breast made that im- 
possible. 

If he would only move and get up and 
reach for his stick, then the poor enthralled 
brute might act. This would be a match 
to the powder. 

At last Pedro stirred uneasity in his 
sleep and groaned, and with all the stealth 
of a wild beast Black Bruin drew nearer to 
him. He could see drops of sweat upon the 



146 Black Bruin 



man's brow and a tremor shook his body. 
Was this terrible demon really afraid ? If 
so, Black Bruin himself would no longer 
be afraid, so he drew still nearer and stood 
over his master. 

Then with a yell of terror that echoed 
through the cavernous woods, Pedro sprang 
to his feet, while his hand reached for the 
stiletto that he always carried. But quick 
as he was, he was not as quick as the bear, 
for, with a motion like lightning and a 
grip like steel, Black Bruin pinioned his 
arms to his sides and held him as though 
in the grip of Vulcan. 

" Heii, yii-here, you brute deevil. You 
let me go I keel you," shrieked Pedro. 
But the words, that would have made the 
bear cringe and skulk a few hours before, 
held no terror for him. He was master 
now, and this man who had clubbed and 
prodded, sworn at, and outraged him, was 
a pigmy in his arms. His powerful jaw 



The Beast and the Man H7 

too was close to the man's neck. One 
crunch would make him lifeless. 

Then Pedro, with more ferocity than 
judgment, began kicking, hoping to frighten 
the bear, who had always skulked at his 
slightest word. But the growl of rage with 
which Black Bruin greeted this move 
fairly froze the blood in Pedro's veins, 
especially when he felt the great brute half 
open his jaws as though to bite through his 
neck. 

Then Pedro became wise and sought by 
kind words to persuade the bear into re- 
leasing him. 

" Gude Freetzie, gude beastie. Don't, 
Freetzie, don't." 

But those platitudes were received as un- 
compromisingly by Black Bruin as were 
the kicks. He evidently would have no 
parleying of any sort. The man had been 
weighed in the balance and found entirely 
wanting. 



148 Black Bruin 



There was still one very slight hope left, 
however. If Pedro could only reach his 
stiletto, even with his hands pinioned to 
his sides, he might be able to plunge it into 
the brute's side down low and inflict a 
wound that would cause the bear to loose 
his hold for a second, when he might 
wrench himself free and deliver a second 
fatal thrust. 

The stiletto was in a sheath and Pedro 
could just reach the point. His only hope 
was to work it loose, then with a quick 
motion jump it out, and catch it as it fell. 
It was a desperate chance, but all that was 
left to him. 

His slightest movement brought blood- 
curdling growls from Black Bruin, who 
evidently did not intend to take any 
chances with him. 

At the same instant that Pedro began 
reaching for his stiletto, Black Bruin 
started marching him up the road into the 



The Beast and the Man 149 

woods. Where lie was taking him and 
what new horror awaited him the Italian 
could not imagine. 

Inch by inch he carefully worked the 
stiletto higher and higher in the sheath. 
Then with a quick upward motion of his 
hand, he jumped it clear of the leather and 
clutched for the handle as it fell. But his 
fingers barely glazed the steel, the weapon 
fell to the earth, and his last hope was gone. 

About fifty feet down the road, Black 
Bruin wheeled his captive sharply to the 
right and taking a few steps in that di- 
rection, they stood upon the brink of the 
precipice, at the bottom of which was the 
foaming, dashing, turbulent stream. 

As though to make the horror of the 
situation even more intense, the moon 
which had been under a cloud, came out 
and shone peacefully into the yawning 
depths. In the silver moonlight the white 
foam on the water looked as soft as wool ; 



150 Black Bruin 



but Pedro knew that beneath the froth and 
foam were the jagged and hungry rocks 
that made it. 

There they remained for the space of ten 
seconds, the dark, cruel, sinister little man, 
held in the inexorable grip of the great 
shaggy beast. Each second the crushing 
arms of the bear tightened and the man's 
breath came in gasps and sobs. His tongue 
protruded from his mouth, and his eyes 
bulged out of their sockets with fear and 
pain. Blood dripped from his nose and his 
ribs creaked as the infuriated beast slowly 
crushed him. 

When the figure of his tormentor no 
longer struggled in his arms, Black Bruin 
opened his powerful jaws and with a single 
bite crushed the vertebra? of the neck. 
Then, with a grunt of deep satisfaction, he 
lifted the limp figure in his arms as high as 
he could, and flung it into the yawning 
chasm below. 



The Beast and the Man 151 

He peered over the railing and saw it 
strike upon the rocks beneath, hang for a 
moment uncertain and disappear in the 
dark eddy. 

Then he dropped on all fours and hurried 
back to camp, where he demolished every- 
thing of Pedro's meagre outfit, not forget- 
ting to tear his coat to shreds. This done 
to his evident satisfaction, he obeyed the 
call from the deep woods, that had been so 
insistent in his ear all that spring and sum- 
mer, and shuffled away into the gloom. 

The dark plumes of fir and pines sighed, 
" Gome," and the night wind whispered, 
" Come," and the rustling fronds and 
grasses said, " Come." All nature wel- 
comed the exile to this, his native wilder- 
ness. 



CHAPTER IX 
LIFE IN THE WILD 



_ 



CHAPTER IX 

LIFE IN THE WILD 

It was with a wild exultant sense of being 
free that Black Bruin shuffled through the 
underbrush and entered the deep woods on 
this, his first night of actual freedom. 
Some of the native ferocity of his kind 
coursed in his veins. Had he not within 
the hour slain his tormentor — the inex- 
plicable creature who had tyrannized over 
him and bullied and beaten him for more 
than a year ? But mingled with his triumph 
was a faint sense of fear that caused him to 
put many miles between himself and the 
deep gorge before he stopped for food or 
rest. True, he had seen the limp, lifeless 
figure fall into the abyss and then disap- 
pear in the dark stream. Still, he might 



15 6 Black Bruin 



come to life in some miraculous way and 
pursue him. 

It was under most peculiar circumstances 
that this alien returned to his native 
wilderness ; — circumstances that we shall 
have to consider briefly to understand why 
so many mishaps befell him during his 
first year of freedom. 

From the first moment that the fuzzy 
little bear-cubs follow their huge mother 
from the den into the open world, their les- 
sons of life begin. These lessons are ac- 
quired partly through imitation and also 
through design upon the part of the wise 
old dam. Nearly all small creatures are 
imitative, so, as the old bear did only those 
things that were for her good, the cubs soon 
learned by imitation which of the wild 
creatures to be upon good terms with and 
which were to be let alone. 

The cubs always stay with their mother 
for a year, usually denning up with her the 



Life in the Wild 157 

first fall, and only being deserted when the 
new cubs come ; so it will be seen that this 
early training and discipline is of the 
greatest importance. Knowledge that is 
not gained in this way is usually gained by 
hard knocks. 

At last, being winded and tired with his 
long flight, Black Bruin crawled into a 
deep thicket and went to sleep. When he 
awoke, it was very early morning, just the 
time of day that he and Pedro had been in 
the habit of starting on the road. 

No more road for him, but if Black 
Bruin could not get his breakfast at a farm- 
house, he must seek it elsewhere, for he was 
fairly ravenous this balmy summer morn- 
ing- 
He remembered his old grub and ant- 
hunting habit and was soon busy turning 
over flat stones and pulling to pieces old 
rotten logs, where there was usually good 
picking. But it took a great many of these 



158 Black Bruin 



little crawlers and creepers to satisfy a half- 
famished bear. 

Finally, Black Bruin scented a chipmunk 
in a small pile of stones, and hastily began 
pulling the pile apart to get at the prize. 

Poor Chippy, hearing his house tumbling 
about his head and seeing his retreat rapidly 
cut off, burrowed deeper and deeper in the 
stone-heap, but finally the monster was al- 
most upon him. When one more stone 
had been lifted, he would be at the bear's 
mercy. So, with a frightened squeak, 
Chippy made a break for freedom, hoping 
to gain a stonewall that he knew was near by. 

Thump, thump, thump, went the heavy 
paws all about him as he dodged hither and 
thither, uttering a quick succession of terri- 
fied squeaks. 

At last one of the great paws fell fairly 
upon him and his life was crushed out, 
while Black Bruin had the keen satisfaction 
of feeling warm blood in his mouth. 



Life in the Wild 159 

This success put new enthusiasm into the 
hunter and he pulled stones and logs about 
for an hour or two in a lively manner. 

He did not find any more chipmunks and 
was about to give up hunting for that 
morning and go in search of water, when a 
small black and white creature with a bushy 
tail attracted his attention. It was about 
the size of a cat but the body scent was not 
that of a cat. 

Whatever it was, it was small and slow, 
and could be easily caught and killed. 
Whether or not it was good to eat could be 
determined later, so the hunter hurried af- 
ter the small black and white creature that 
looked so harmless. 

A few quick shuffles carried Black Bruin 
alongside the quarry and, within striking- 
distance, his heavy paw went up, but at that 
moment the wood pussy arched his back 
and delivered his own best defense full in 
the bear's nose and eyes. 



160 Black Brain 



With a loud " ugh," and a grunt and 
squeal of pain, Black Bruin retreated into 
the nearest thicket. 

It seemed as though liquid fire had been 
dashed in his eyes, and of all the obnoxious 
smells that ever disgusted his nostrils, this 
was the worst. His eyes smarted and 
burned, and the more he rubbed them the 
worse they became. 

He was nearly blinded and so had to go 
groping and stumbling through the woods 
to the nearest brook, to which his wild in- 
stinct guided him in some miraculous man- 
ner. Here he plunged in his face up to his 
ears and was slightly relieved. 

For an hour he repeated the operation over 
and over, plunging his head under and keep- 
ing it there as long as he could hold his breath. 

At last the burning, smarting fluid was 
partly washed from both eyes and nostrils, 
and Black Bruin went upon his way a 
wiser and sorrier beast. 



Life in the Wild 161 

It was two or three days before the in- 
flammation entirely left his eyes and his 
nostrils got back their old sure power of 
discriminating between the many scents of 
the forest. 

He had learned his first lesson in the 
woods, which was that a well-behaved skunk 
when taking his morning walk, is not to be 
disturbed. 

After this, whenever Black Bruin even 
scented a skunk, he kept at a discreet dis- 
tance and contented himself with chip- 
munks and mice. 

One morning he surprised a fox eating a 
rabbit which it had just caught in a briar- 
patch, and made such a sudden rush upon 
Reynard that he fled in hot haste, leaving 
the rabbit for the bear. In this way Black 
Bruin learned that rabbit was good to eat, 
even as palatable as squirrel, and after that 
he hunted rabbits whenever opportunity 
offered. 



162 Black Bruin 



Sometimes he would find a gray rabbit's 
hole and with much labor dig the poor 
rabbit out. More frequently he would 
watch at the mouth of a rabbit-burrow, 
where he had seen a rabbit enter, until 
bunny reappeared, sticking his head out 
cautiously to reconnoitre, when one swift 
stroke of the heavy paw bagged the 
game. 

It was one day after having watched for 
several hours at the mouth of a rabbit-bur- 
row, that Black Bruin discovered a queer 
creature, three or four times the size of a 
rabbit, walking leisurely along through the 
woods, and went in hot pursuit. 

By this time, the experience with the 
skunk had lost its old terror, and he was 
again the curious, keen hunter. 

Whatever it was, the newcomer did not 
seem to be much afraid of him, and that 
was strange. Most of the wild creatures he 
knew fled at his first approach, and it was 



^1 




Black Bruin Dealt the Porcupine a Crushing B 



Life in the Wild 163 

with difficulty that he got near them ; but 
this queer animal ambled along as slowly as 
if he had not the slightest concern. 

He did not look or smell like anything 
that Black Bruin had ever observed before. 
The odd thing about him was that he was 
covered with small sharp points sticking 
out in every direction, which gave him a 
very bristling appearance. 

As the bear came up, he merely squatted 
upon the ground and drew himself into 
a rotund shape. What a strange creature ! 
Black Bruin reached his nose closer to get 
a better whiff of the body scent, and if pos- 
sible to discover what the animal was. 

Quick as a flash the porcupine's tail 
struck upward and three of the longest, 
sharpest quills in this queer body were 
firmly planted in the hunter's nose. 

With a growl of pain and rage the bear 
dealt this strange enemy a crushing blow. 
The porcupine's back was broken, but the 



164 Black Bruin 



conqueror carried off four more quills in his 
paw. 

It was not much like a conqueror that he 
went, for he limped off on three legs, and 
sitting down in a thicket, pulled the quills 
from his paw as well as he could ; but two 
were broken off and finally worked through 
the foot, coming out a day or two later on 
the upper side. 

The paw was so sore that he could not 
travel on it, and the afflicted bear either 
w T ent upon three legs, or kept quiet. 

Two of the quills in his lower jaw he got 
rid of, but one stayed with him for several 
da}'s, and finally made its appearance in his 
cheek, coming out near the ear. 

The experience was a sorry one, and 
although several days afterward Black 
Bruin saw the dead bod}' of the porcupine 
l} T ing where he had crushed it, he would 
not go near it. This creature, like the 
skunk, had a peculiar way of fighting which 



Life in the Wild- 165 

the bear could not understand, so he would 
give the next porcupine that he met the 
entire road if he wanted it. 

Black Bruin's relations with man had been 
most peculiar up to the time of his killing 
his cruel master and escape into the wild, 
and they did not tend to make him wise in 
regard to this creature, which all normal 
wild animals shun as their greatest danger. 

He had been brought up in close com- 
panionship with men ; had slept and ate with 
them for the first three or four years of his 
life. He had wrestled with the men cubs 
and had found in it nothing but sheer 
delight. Children and their caresses had 
been his one pleasure during the strenuous 
year with Pedro. 

Now,' suddenly all this relationship to- 
ward man was changed. Black Bruin had 
gone from the pale of civilization into that 
of savagery. He was now a wild beast, feared 
by men, although without much cause. 



166 Black Bruin 



Little by little this new relationship 
between himself and the man beast was 
borne in upon Black Bruin. At first, he 
shunned men and their way, fearing that 
some man might capture him and again 
claim him for the road. The wild, free 
life made him glad. To be here to-day and 
there to-morrow was to his liking, and he 
did not intend to live again upon a 
chain. 

But that Black Bruin's long companion- 
ship with men was a disadvantage to him 
in his new life was only too apparent, for it 
led him into indiscretions, which a normal 
bear would never have committed. 

In his natural state the bear is a very 
wary animal, always upon the watch, even 
when he is feeding ; always and forever 
testing the wind with both ear and nostril. 
But with the half-domesticated dancing- 
bear it was different. In his own mind he 
had nothing to fear from men. He had 



Life in the Wild 167 

walked through their villages and along 
their country roads and seen them by thou- 
sands and tens of thousands. They had 
never harmed him, and he had no reason to 
think they ever would. 

One September morning he was digging- 
roots along the edge of the woods. He had 
found something quite to his liking and 
was much absorbed, when suddenly a fresh 
puff of wind blew the strong body scent of 
a man full into his nostrils. He looked 
this way and that but could see no man. 
Then a twig snapped in the cover near at 
hand, and a squirrel hunter stepped into 
view, not fifty feet away. The hunter was 
probably much more astonished than was 
Black Bruin. The great shaggy brute was 
so close to him that he looked like a ver- 
itable monster. 

With the hunter's instinct, that acts al- 
most before the mind has time to think, the 
gun went to his shoulder and both barrels 



168 Black Bruin 



were discharged in such quick succession 
as to call for merely one echo. 

The hunter was of course not in search of 
bears, so the two charges of number four 
shot did not have a mortal effect upon the 
quarry, but at such close range they pene- 
trated quite deeply into his flesh and stung 
him with an excruciating pain. With a 
loud " Hoof," and an agonized grunt of 
pain, the bear fled precipitately in one di- 
rection, and the hunter, thinking that he 
had' jeopardized his life by his rashness in 
attacking a bear with squirrel shot, fled in 
another. 

The man did not stop running until he 
reached the nearest farmhouse, where he 
excitedly gasped out his adventure to wide- 
eyed listeners, while Black Bruin fled as far 
as he could into the deep woods, to nurse 
his many wounds. 

There was little, however, that he could 
do. The wounds were not dangerous, but 



Life in the Wild 169 

they burned and smarted as though a 
whole swarm of bees had penetrated his 
thick coat and found the skin beneath. 

He spent the better part of the day lying 
in a cooling stream, waiting for the burn- 
ing and smarting to cease. 

He had now added one more to the list 
of his sad experiences in the wild. The 
man-scent was dangerous and henceforth 
he must flee at the slightest suspicion of the 
proximity of man. The rank sulphurous 
smell of gunpowder, too, and the roar, like 
thunder, that echoed away through the 
cavernous woods, were things that he would 
remember. 

Man, who he had thought was quite 
harmless, was a terrible enemy who could 
sting him in a thousand places at once, 
and shake the forest with thunder and 
lightning. 

Even while Black Bruin lay wallowing 
in the stream, trying to ease the burning 



iy° Black Bruin 



shotgun wounds, there was being planned 
in the near-by village a bear-hunt that 
should bring about his destruction, for the 
excited hunter had described a monster as 
large as a cow. 



CHAPTER X 
THE GREAT BEAR-HUNT 



CHAPTER X 

THE GREAT BEAR-HUNT 

The hair-raising story that the young 
squirrel-hunter told, created quite an ex- 
citement among villagers near by, but on 
second consideration the older and wiser 
heads were inclined to discredit it. The 
imaginative Nimrod had probably seen a 
black stump or dark moss-covered rock, 
which, in the excitement of the moment, 
he did not stop to investigate. He had 
fired upon the instant and then fled with- 
out taking further inventory of the place. 
It was doubtless one of those hallucinations 
that are so common in the woods. Bears 
had not been plentiful in the region for sev- 
eral years, so at first the story was dis- 
credited. 



174 Black Bruin 



About a week later Grandpa Hezekiah 
Butterfield, one of the old men of the vil- 
lage, went about a mile into the country to 
a farmhouse to take supper with an old 
crony and to talk over old times. 

As is usual when two grandpas get to 
talking over old times, Grandpa Butterfield 
stayed much later than he intended, start- 
ing for home at about eight o'clock. But 
when he went, he felt well repaid for his 
visit, because he had completely out-talked 
his companion and moreover was carrying- 
back a present of five pounds of honey, 
which, as the old man had a sweet tooth, 
the only tooth he had, was most acceptable. 

Just after leaving the farmhouse, the 
way led through a deep woods which over- 
hung the road, making it quite dark in 
places. 

It happened that on this same evening- 
Black Bruin went forth on one of his 
nightly prowls. 



The Great Bear-Hunt 175 

It was a moonlight night and the wood- 
mice were out in force, scampering about 
and squeaking, having the finest kind of a 
play. In the course of his stalking this 
small game, Black Bruin came to within a 
few rods of the road. He was sniffing 
about an old log which smelled strongly of 
mice when a fresh puff of the wind brought 
him a strong man-scent. 

At this dread odor the hair rose upon his 
neck and fear told him to slip quietly 
away in the opposite direction from which 
the scent came. 

He was about to obey this instinct when 
the wind again freshened and a new odor 
filled his nostrils. It was not as strong as 
the man-scent and it did not fill him with 
fear, but with delight. It made his mouth 
drip saliva and filled him with an insatiate 
craving for something, he could not re- 
member just what. 

Then the old sweet smell, that was to 



176 Black Brain 



him what whisky is to the drunkard, 
brought back a familiar picture. It was of 
a farmhouse with barns and many out- 
buildings. There were hens, ducks and 
turkeys in the yard and back of the house 
was a row of beehives that always emitted 
this ravishing odor. 

It was honey, and at the realization 
Black Bruin could almost hear the low 
droning of the hive, or the angry zip, zip of 
the bees about his ears as he robbed them. 

Again the night-wind brought the man- 
scent and the smell of honey. The former 
filled him with fear and the latter with de- 
light. Again and again he tested the wind, 
weighing the two odors, and at last the 
honey conquered. 

The man might fill him with thorns and 
prickers from his thunder and lightning 
stick, but he must have some of that 
honey. 

Grandpa Butterfield was walking leisurely 



The Great Bear-Hunt 177 

along hamming a psalm tune, as was his 
wont when well pleased with the world, 
when he thought he heard something be- 
hind him in the road. 

He stopped and listened, but all Avas still. 
Only the usual night-sounds came to his 
ears. But when he moved on, he felt sure 
that the footsteps again followed. 

At last he reached a point where the 
moonlight fell across the road. He now 
felt quite sure that something was coming 
after him but what, he could not imagine. 
Feeling curious, and a bit uneasy, for the 
road was a lonely one, he turned and looked 
behind and there, in the full moonlight, 
not forty feet away, he beheld a huge 
black bear following surely in his foot- 
steps. 

There was no deceiving his eye. He 
had seen too many bears in days gone by. 

Grandpa Butterfield quickened his walk 
to a trot, which in a dozen steps he in- 



178 Black Bruin 



creased to as lively a run as a man of 
seventy years could muster. 

Black Bruin, feeling, now that the man 
was running, he was afraid of him, and 
seeing his precious honey rapidly moving 
away down the road, went in hot pursuit. 

By the time the old man had covered a 
hundred feet, his breath came in quick 
asthmatic gasps. Craning his stiff neck to 
see if he had distanced his pursuer, he saw 
to his horror that the bear was not twenty 
feet behind him. Terror now lent wings 
to his rheumatic old legs, and he sprinted 
another hundred feet in much quicker 
time than he had the first. 

But Black Bruin now felt sure that the 
honey was his. The man creature was 
clearly afraid of him, so he too increased 
his pace. 

Poor Grandpa Butterfield could almost 
feel the bear's hot breath upon his back as 
he ran. Ten seconds more, he told himself, 



The Great Bear-Hunt 179 

and he would be in the clutches of this 
brute. His obituary and the account of his 
tragic death would surely be in the county 
paper next week. 

Suddenly his half-paralyzed brain was 
electrified by a thought. It was the honey 
that the bear was after, and not him. Who 
ever heard of a bear wanting to eat an old 
dried-up man, who was as tough as leather ? 

Without a second's delay he pitched the 
honey into the road behind him, and con- 
tinued his frantic flight. 

A few rods farther on, feeling that he 
was no longer pursued, he glanced back 
just long enough to see the bear tearing the 
paper from the package and licking out the 
honey. 

That evening at the country grocery 
the bear-story of the squirrel-hunter was 
amply corroborated by Grandpa Butterfield, 
who was so winded and spent with running 
that he could barely gasp out his discon- 



180 Black Bruin 



nected account of the chase through the 
woods. 

The next morning, with Grandpa Butter- 
field as a guide, several men went over the 
ground, where there was plent}^ of evidence 
to substantiate the old man's story. The 
empty honey-frames were there, and the 
bear-tracks told as plainly as words that a 
bear, of unusual size, had given the old 
man the run of his life through the woods. 

Grandpa Butterfield was the hero of the 
village, both for that day and several fol- 
lowing, and the long-talked-of bear-hunt 
was at once organized. 

There was but one rifle in the village, and 
that was a 38-55 Winchester, the property 
of the young hunter from the city, who had 
filled Black Bruin's coat with squirrel-shot. 
So old rusty shotguns were got out and 
cleaned up in readiness for the fray. Some 
of them had not seen service recently, with 
the exception of once or twice a year, when 



The Great Bear-Hunt 181 

they were used to scare off the crows or to 
frighten a woodchuck which was making 
too free with the beans. 

Boys hunted up old rusty bullet-moulds 
and ran bullets, and the shotguns were 
loaded with slugs and buckshot. 

Those who were not fortunate enough 
even to possess a disreputable old gun, 
armed themselves with pitchforks, so that 
altogether it was a motley armed party that 
started out one early October morning to 
annihilate Black Bruin. 

The dogs comprising the pack were half- 
breed hounds and beagles, with two or three 
pure-blood foxhounds. 

By rare good fortune a farmer, coming 
into town early, had seen the bear crossing 
the road ahead of his team, so that the dogs 
could be shown the trail at once. 

But when the hunters pointed out the 
hand-shaped track in the road and said 
" seek," the hair rose upon the dogs' backs 



1 82 Black Bruin 



and they stuck their tails between their legs 
and interpreted " seek," as meaning that 
they were to seek their own homes by the 
shortest path. This new rank animal scent 
had no attraction for them. They had not 
lost any bear. In other words, they w r ould 
not follow. 

Here was a difficulty that the hunters 
had not foreseen, and for a time it looked as 
though the hunt was doomed to end then 
and there. 

Finally some one in the party said, " We 
ought to have taken along Ben Holcome's 
Growler. Growler ain't afraid of the devil 
himself." 

Growler was a mongrel, half-hound and 
half-bulldog. He had not nose enough to 
follow alone,* but as had been said, he 
wasn't afraid of anything. So as there w r as 
nothing else to do, a boy was sent cross-lots 
after Growler, while the hunters waited 
impatiently. 



The Great Bear-Hunt 18^ 



j 



Growler and the boy at last put in an ap- 
pearance, and the mongrel was shown the 
bear-track in the road. 

Growler's hair likewise rose up on his 
neck, but his lips also parted in a snarl and 
he started off on the fresh track, uttering 
excited yelps. Growler thought he scented 
a good fight ahead, and he would rather 
chew on a good adversary any day than 
upon a piece of beefsteak. 

Seeing what was expected of them, and 
made courageous by Growler's example, the 
pack followed at full cry, and the great bear- 
hunt was on in earnest. 

Black Bruin heard them almost at the 
outset, where he was digging roots in the 
deep woods, and for some reason the sounds 
annoyed him. He knew they were made by 
dogs, for he had often heard the old hound 
Hecla at the farmhouse running rabbits in 
the near-by swamp. 

But here, there were half-a-dozen hounds 



84 Black Bruin 



instead of one, and their baying was fairly 
clamorous. 

Finally, the pack entered the woods not 
forty rods away, and Black Bruin began to 
get uneasy. At last it dawned upon him, 
as the pack drew still nearer and nearer, 
that they were upon his track. This 
thought filled him with both fear and rage. 
What did these curs want of him ? Had 
he not killed a dog that was worrying him, 
while with Pedro, with a single blow ? 

So he crouched in a thicket and waited 
expectantly. He had not long to wait, for 
in fifteen seconds the pack came up. When 
they discovered the bear so near at hand, 
however, and saw what menacing game 
they had been running, the hounds all slunk 
back to a safe distance, and sat on their 
tails. But not so Growler. 

Here was the scrap of his life with an ani- 
mal three times as large as the big New- 
foundland, whom he was in the habit of 




Growler Sprang at Black Bruin's Throat 



The Great Bear-Hunt 185 

worrying. So lie rushed into the thicket 
and sprang at Black Bruin's throat. 

But quick as he was, he was not as quick 
as his adversary, who ripped open the side 
of his head with a lucky blow, and stretched 
him gasping upon the ground. Black 
Bruin then reached down and biting the 
kicking dog through the neck, finished his 
troubles in short order. 

Growler uttered one agonized cry, and 
stretched out dead. This was enough for 
the rest of the pack, all of whom stuck 
their tails between their legs and ran for 
their respective masters. 

Hearing the cries of men near at hand, 
Black Bruin slunk out of the thicket and 
off into the deep woods, but not soon 
enough to escape a fusillade of buck- 
shot which whizzed about him as he ran, 
a few of them biting deep into his flesh. 

But he was soon lost to sight, and as the 
pack would not follow, now that Growler 



186 Black Bruin 



was no more, the hunt was finally abandoned 
for that day. 

The next da}^ a bulldog and a bull terrier 
were procured to take the place of Growler, 
and the hunt was resumed. But being- 
made wary by this experience, Black Bruin 
" laid low " and they could not start him. 

Each morning for three days they scoured 
the country, beating the woods and loosing 
the hounds at all points where the bear 
had been recently seen, but without suc- 
cess. 

The fourth morning a farmer came to 
town in great haste. The bear had killed 
a calf the night before and he had discov- 
ered the partly eaten carcass buried in the 
woods near by. Here was the bait that 
would lure the thief into their hands. 

So hunters and hounds went at once to 
the carcass, where a rather fresh trail was 
found. Half an hour's pursuit again routed 
out the bear. Once he took to the open, 



The Great Bear-Hunt 187 

and the young hunter from the city with 
the Winchester sent a bullet through his 
paw, laming him considerably. This would 
never do, so he doubled back to the woods. 

He did not fear this yelping, baying pack 
as he did the men that were also following 
him. He now knew that the thunder and 
lightning that they carried could bite and 
sting as nothing else could. 

For half an hour Black Bruin ran hither 
and thither, doubling in and out. Finally 
he remembered his tree-climbing habit and 
in an evil moment clambered up a tall 
spruce. In five minutes' time after he 
scratched up the tree, men and dogs had 
surrounded his foolish refuge, and his fate 
seemed sealed. 

The last of the party to arrive was the 
young man with the Winchester, for whom 
all had been waiting. One shot from him 
would end the hunt. 

They discovered Black Bruin about thirty 



188 Black Bruin 



feet from the ground in a thick whorl of 
limbs. 

The young rifleman was much excited. 
This would be his first bear. His name 
would be in the local paper, and he would 
have a great story to tell when he got back 
to the city. 

Experience would have taught him to 
draw his bead finer than he did, and also to 
have lowered his rear sight, which was set 
for two hundred yards ; but taking careless 
aim, and thinking he could not miss at 
such short range, he pressed the trigger. 

There was a sharp crack from the rifle, 
and the bullet ploughed a deep wound in 
Black Bruin's scalp, but glanced from his 
thick skull and went singing through the 
tree-tops. 

The blow of the bullet upon the skull 
dazed the bear for a moment, and he loosed 
his hold and came tumbling down through 
the interlaced limbs. 



The Great Bear-Hunt 189 

But the hard bump that he got at the 
foot of the tree, brought him to his senses 
with a jerk. Right among the yelping, 
snarling pack he had fallen, and in sheer 
desperation he struck out right and left. 

Two of the hounds went yelping to the 
rear. Then an excited boy leveled a 
double-barreled shotgun at the bear and 
discharged both barrels. 

At the same instant the best hound in 
the pack jumped into range and rolled over 
kicking upon the ground. He had received 
the full charge. 

Half-blinded and dazed by the blow 
upon his head, and made frantic by the 
yelping of the pack, the shouts of the men 
and the roar of their thunder, Black Bruin 
put all his remaining strength into flight. 

Not knowing or seeing which way he 
went, he fled straight toward the hunter 
with the Winchester with mouth wide 
open. 



190 Black Brain 



Horrified at the sight, which the hunter 
interpreted as a desperate charge upon the 
part of the bear, the city Nimrod delivered 
one wild shot and then fled for his life, as 
he thought. 

This stampeded the entire hunt, and the 
terrified men fled as fast as their legs could 
carry them until they left the spot far be- 
hind. 

It was a question whether the frantic 
beast tried harder to get away from the 
hunters, or they from him. 

In the village grocery the stories that 
were told that night made the small boy's 
hair stand up with fright and his blood run 
cold with fear. 

As for Black Bruin, with his wounded paw 
upon which he limped painfully, and with 
his bleeding scalp, he concluded that the part 
of the country in which he had made his 
home for several months, was no place for 
him, so before another sunrise he put many 



The Great Bear-Hunt 191 

miles between himself and the scene of his 
narrow escape from the hunters. 

Nor did this one night's journey calm 
his fear. Night after night he fled, always 
going in the same direction, which, as he 
fled northward, carried him farther and 
farther into the wilderness. 

At last in a wild country of rugged 
mountains and deep, thickly wooded val- 
leys, where the habitat of man seemed far 
distant, he ceased his flight. 

There in the wilderness, where lumber- 
men alone penetrated, Black Bruin denned 
up and slept away his fifth winter. His 
bed was made deep under the top of a fallen 
hemlock, where the snow drifted above 
him and covered him with soft white 
blankets. The only evidence that the outer 
world had that a bear was sleeping beneath 
was a small hole in the snow kept open by 
the warm breath of the sleeper. 



CHAPTER XI 
A PLEASANT COMPANION 



CHAPTER XI 

A PLEASANT COMPANION 

When Black Bruin awoke from his long- 
sleep, stretched himself, and sallied forth 
into the open world, the first faint touch of 
red was appearing upon the soft maples. 
Buds upon the other trees had not started 
and there were yet suggestions of the chill 
of melting snow-banks upon the air. The 
tones of the forest were still somber, light 
gray-green or ash color, suggesting the 
funeral pile of the last year. 

If the sun shone brightly for an hour, 
there might come a dash of hail the next 
and a chilling blast of wind that seemed to 
retard the oncoming spring for a whole 
month. 

Life hung in the balance, the seasons 



196 Black Brain 



coquetted, gray-haired old Winter trifling 
and flirting with the warm, blushing, sweet- 
breathed Spring. 

The awakening had not yet come. It 
might come the next week, or, if the spring 
was exceptionally late, it might not come 
until the next month. 

In accordance with his usual spring 
custom Black Bruin fasted for several days, 
eating only grasses, buds and roots. This 
satisfied him until the thick layers of fat, 
with which he had come forth from his 
winter sleep, disappeared and then he be- 
came ravenous, " as ravenous as a wolf," 
as the proverb says. 

He hunted mice persistently, but mice 
seemed not to be as plentiful in the wilder- 
ness as they were nearer civilization. 
Squirrels also were not as numerous here 
as nearer the abode of man. 

Most people, when they go to the great 
woods, expect to find them teeming with 




He Discovered Another Bear Watching the Stream 



A Pleasant Companion 197 

all kinds of life, and are much disappointed 
to find that song-birds and squirrels are 
decidedly more plentiful in their home 
village than in the wilderness. Many of 
the birds and smaller animals are social 
little creatures and love to be near the abode 
of man, while others live upon the scatter- 
ings which agriculture deigns not to pick up. 
One day Black Bruin was following along 
the banks of a good-sized stream, looking 
for frogs, or anything, for that matter, 
which might fit into a bear menu, when to 
his great astonishment he discovered another 
bear, not as large as himself, sitting upon a 
flat rock a few feet from the shore, watch- 
ing the stream intently. Black Bruin had 
never seen any of his kind before and a 
feeling of curiosity and friendly inquiry 
came over him. He did not go at once to 
make the acquaintance of the stranger, but 
kept very quiet and watched to see what 
she was doing. 



198 Black Bruin 



He did not have long to wait, for a gust 
of wind soon dropped a bit of bark upon 
the stream near the crouching bear. There 
was a spray of water, and a flash of the 
silver sides of the salmon as it darted to the 
surface. Then the bear on the rock reached 
down with her paw and, with a lightning- 
like motion, batted the fish out of the water 
and well up on the bank. 

Black Bruin, during his year of wild life, 
had found several dead fish, which he had 
eaten with great relish. So, without wait- 
ing to consider that the prize did not be- 
long to him, he started out of the bushes 
for it. 

But the real fisherman rushed at him 
with such ferocity that he quickly retreated 
to cover and sat watching while she killed 
the fish. 

When it had been dispatched, the lucky 
fisherman took it in her mouth and went 
away into the woods with the prize. Black 



A Pleasant Companion 199 

Bruin followed at a distance, smelling of 
the bushes, where the fish brushed in pass- 
ing, leaving a tantalizing scent. 

Finally, the bear with the fish stopped 
under some spruces and began eating it. 

Soon two fuzzy shuffling little creatures 
joined her. What they were or where they 
came from Black Bruin did not know. 
They seemed not to care much for the fish 
which the old bear offered them, but pre- 
ferred to romp and tumble about in the 
jolliest kind of frolic. 

In the old days there had been a litter of 
puppies at the farmhouse. These queer 
little creatures were about the size of 
puppies, but Black Bruin did not think 
they were small dogs. 

When the fish had been eaten, the three 
went away farther into the woods, the two 
small creatures following in the footsteps of 
their mother. 

Then Black Bruin went up and smelled 



2oo Black Bruin 



of their tracks and his good nose told him 
that they were small bears. 

After that Black Bruin saw the old bear 
and her two cubs often, but she would not 
let him come near them, and did not 
evince much friendliness for him. But he 
had learned one valuable lesson and the 
following day was upon the flat rock 
watching for fish. 

He did not get one that day or the next, 
but he had patience, which all fishermen 
must have, and the third day got his 
fish. 

It was much larger than the one he had 
seen the strange bear take and it made him 
a fine meal. After that he was a tireless 
fisherman. 

One morning Black Bruin discovered a 
little dappled fawn following its mother 
gleefully through the fragrant breeze- 
haunted forest, and remembering his calf- 
killing episode, just before the bear-hunt, 



A Pleasant Companion 201 

he approached cautiously. This was not a 
calf, for the habitation of man had been 
left far behind. Calves he had made the 
acquaintance of when he was the farm- 
house pet, in those far-off days. This was 
a wilderness creature and it belonged to 
him if he could kill it, as did all the wild 
creatures that he could master. 

This is the universal cry of the woods, — 
food, food, food ; and it is the cry of civiliza- 
tion as well. There is no dingle dell, 
where the harebell and the anemone grow, 
where the pine and the spruce stand 
darkling and sweet peace seems to fold her 
wings and sit brooding, but danger is there. 
Danger that crawls and creeps and runs 
with great bounds. Danger upon velvety 
paws, that fall on the mosses of the forest 
carpet as lightly as an autumn leaf; danger 
that slinks in gray protectively colored 
forms which pass like shadows ; danger upon 
wings, as sure and speedy as the hunter's 



202 Black Bruin 



arrow, — wings fringed with down, that 
their coming may be noiseless and fatal. 

The tiny wood-mouse scampers gleefully 
in the dead leaves, but above him and 
about him are a dozen dangers. The 
nervous cottontail sits erect upon his 
haunches, his nose twitches and his large 
trumpet-like ears are turned this way and 
that to catch the slightest sound. His 
whole attitude is one of intense watching 
and listening, and well he may, for his 
enemies are legion and in every thicket, 
bush and tree-top a dark danger is lurk- 
ing. 

This is the war of the woods. The old, 
old story of carnage, life that takes life 
that the breath of life may not go out of 
the nostrils. Cruel as fate is the law of 
the woods, but it is also the law of the 
shambles and carnivorous man. 

Black Bruin was not as well versed in 
hunting as most of his wild kindred, so he 



A Pleasant Companion 203 

did not take the precaution to get upon the 
windward side of his game. The ever- 
watchful mother scented danger long 
before he got within striking distance. 
Her white flag went up and she led her 
offspring at a breakneck pace from the 
place, but Black Bruin had marked them 
for his own and it was only a matter of 
patience. 

For several days he watched their coming 
and going, until at last he discovered where 
the mother left her offspring while she 
went to a distant lake to feed upon lily-pads. 

The little dappled deer was hidden under 
a fallen tree-top and one day, while the doe 
was gone, he fell upon the helpless fawn, 
which, according to the unwritten law of 
the forest, was his legitimate meat. 

With a swift sure rush and a savage snarl, 
he brought the little deer from hiding. 
There was a short, swift chase, an agonized 
bleat or two, and Black Bruin had a break- 



204 Black Bruin 



fast that well repaid him for all his watching 
and waiting. 

The same afternoon he saw the mother, 
wild-eyed and bleating, racing wildly up 
and down the forest, asking, by terrified 
looks and actions, " Have you seen my lit- 
tle dappled fawn ? He is gone and there is 
strong bear-scent about the tree- top where I 
hid him." For several days she haunted 
the region and her anxiety and heedlessness 
of her own safety nearly caused her to fall a 
victim to the wary hunter, but she finally 
disappeared altogether. 

It was not until the full glory of mid- 
summer was over the land that Black 
Bruin met White Nose in a blueberry patch 
upon a barren hillside. At first she would 
have nothing to do with him, but he fol- 
lowed her so persistently that she was at 
last obliged to take notice. 

For a long time something in earth and 
air had been calling to Black Bruin,— 



A Pleasant Companion 205 

something that he craved above all other 
things; but what it was he never knew un- 
til he rubbed muzzles with White Nose and 
felt her warm breath in his face. Then he 
knew that he had found what he wanted 
and that the old loneliness would not haunt 
him again. 

But there was one thing about him that 
made his mate most suspicious and it took 
much patient coaxing upon Black Bruin's 
part to overcome her misgivings. This 
was the strong leather collar that the 
former dancing-bear still wore about his 
neck. 

It was the collar into which Pedro had 
fastened the chain during the latter part of 
the bear's captivity. This White Nose 
could not understand. In all her ex- 
perience she had never seen a bear wearing 
such a thing as this. The man-scent about 
it, too, made it still more alarming. But at 
last her prejudice was overcome, and the 



2o6 Black Bruin 



two came and went together during the rest 
of the summer and the early autumn. 

From her Black Bruin learned many of 
the secrets of the woods that had hitherto 
been hidden from him. White Nose had 
been reared in the wild, so all her senses 
were keen and the woods and waters were 
her hunting-ground. 

Together they caught salmon at a shallow 
point in the stream where all they had to 
do was to sit upon a rock and knock them 
out on the bank as they passed. Together, 
in the early autumn, they raided a beaver 
colony, breaking into the houses and killing- 
several of the members. Black Bruin 
thought he had never tasted anything in 
his life quite so delicious as beaver-meat. 

White Nose also taught him how to lie 
in wait for the deer in a clump of bushes by 
some pathway that they were in the habit 
of following, or by the lick, or perhaps by a 
spring where they often came to drink, and 



A Pleasant Companion 207 

then, before they suspected their presence, 
to make a sudden rush. 

She showed him a hollow birch-stub, in 
which a family of raccoons dwelt, and to- 
gether they set to work to destroy the 
household of their own smaller brother. 
They dug and tore at the base of the stub 
until they had undermined it, and then to- 
gether pushed it over. 

At first the raccoon family were much 
astonished and terrified at the commotion 
outside their dwelling, and when finally 
the house came down, three sleek raccoons 
fled in as many directions. White Nose 
secured one and Black Bruin another, while 
the third escaped. 

The last thing in the autumn, before 
they denned up, the two bears made a 
long journey of several days to the nearest 
settlement, where they killed several sheep, 
and also carried off two small pigs. In this 
stealing, Black Bruin took the lead, for he 



2o8 Black Bruin 



knew much better the ways of man, and 
the danger from his thunder and lightning 
than did his companion. 

Upon this good supply of mutton and 
pork they laid on the final layers of fat, 
and then returned to their wilderness and 
denned up for the winter. 



CHAPTER XII 
THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN 



CHAPTER XII 

THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN 

The following spring, when Black Bruin 
came forth from hibernation, he went one 
day's journey nearer to the settlements and 
took up headquarters in a rugged and 
heavily timbered series of mountains, 
which were admirably adapted to his pur- 
pose. 

Whenever he awoke during his winter 
nap he still tasted pork and mutton from 
the autumn raid. Henceforth he must 
have more of that diet. So the reason for 
his changing his base of operations will be 
readily seen. One day's journey would 
carry him back into the wilderness, with 
its fine resources for fishing and hunting, 
while a day's travel in the opposite direc- 
tion would bring him to the outskirts of 



212 Black Bruin 



the settlements, within easy striking dis- 
tance of plunder. 

At his first meeting with White Nose, 
he found her most unresponsive to his ad- 
vances, considering the fact that the} 7 had 
come and gone together all through the 
autumn. The reason for her indifference 
was soon discovered, for Black Bruin saw 
that she had two little fuzzy cubs in 
tow ; — one with a smutty white nose like 
her own, and the other with a dark muzzle 
like Black Bruin's. If Black Bruin knew 
that these were his offspring, he did not 
evince much interest in them, while White 
Nose would hardly let him go near them. 
Perhaps she was afraid that he might eat 
them, or maybe it was only maternal jeal- 
ousy, which is always strong in wild 
mothers. 

For several days after taking up his 
abode in the mountains, Black Bruin con- 
tented himself with a vegetarian diet, 



The King of the Mountain 213 

varied with fish and small game, but the 
blood-lust soon came upon him and he be- 
gan prowling about the settlements. 

At first, his reconnoitering was unsuc- 
cessful ; but one day he discovered an 
animal four or five times as large as a 
deer, feeding in an open field near the 
woods. This would not have interested 
him much had not the large creature been 
followed by a little animal of the same 
kind. He never would have thought of 
attacking the mother, but the calf was 
easily within his scope and he began 
shadowing them with the persistence of a 
good hunter. 

Black Bruin knew that these creatures 
were the property of men. He had often 
watched the cattle feeding when he lived 
near the scene of the great bear-hunt, but 
with the exception of the calf he had killed 
upon that eventful morning, he had never 
molested them. 



214 Black Bruin 



Even now, be associated the killing of 
the calf with the baying of hounds and 
danger, but he was now much wiser and 
stronger. He felt that he could get away 
to the mountains long before men would 
discover their loss. He could even fight 
if need be. 

Of all the bears in the region he was 
easily the strongest and heaviest and his 
life with White Nose the fall before had 
taught him many things. 

One morning the young heifer hid her 
little red calf in a thicket just as the doe 
had her fawn and went to feed in the open 
near by. 

This was Black Bruin's opportunity, and 
swift and sure like the good hunter he had 
now become, he approached. The deer 
mother had not offered to attack him and 
he did not think this one would, so he did 
not pay much attention to her. 

He crept as near as he could without 



The King of the Mountain 2 1 5 

scaring the game and then with a swift 
pounce was upon it. He struck the calf a 
blow that should have broken its neck, but 
the calf moved at just the critical moment 
and received a glancing stroke. With a 
bleat of pain and fear it sprang up and fled 
toward its mother. It took only two 
jumps, for a second blow laid it low, with 
just enough life left to kick. 

Black Bruin seized the prize by the head 
and began dragging it into the bushes. But 
he had not gone far when the heifer was 
upon him like a whirlwind. He aimed a 
blow at her head which deprived her of one 
horn, but this did not stop her charge. 
She caught him fairly in the chest and sent 
him sprawling. 

Her remaining horn ploughed a deep 
wound in his shoulder and the force of the 
contact knocked the breath out of him, but 
it also aroused his fighting blood and put 
him upon his guard. 



2i6 Black Bruin 



When the heifer came for him the second 
time, he ripped open her nose and eluded 
her charge, but in no way dampened her 
fighting ardor. 

Ordinarily she would have fled from the 
bear like the wind, but her maternal affec- 
tion had been aroused and wounded and no 
matter how timid the wild mother, it will 
usually fight desperately when its young 
are assailed. 

Now that the bear was upon his guard, 
the heifer was hardly a match for him, for 
he could usually elude her charges and 
punish her sorely at each rush ; but one 
thing was certain : It would be no easy 
matter to carry off the dead calf, and carry 
on such a fight as this at the same time. 

In five minutes the cow was covered with 
blood and her hide had been deeply lacer- 
ated in many places, while Black Bruin 
still had but one wound, that in his 
shoulder. 



The King of the Mountain 217 

Little by little the heifer's frenzy was 
worn out, until at last she retired to a dis- 
tance and pawed the ground and bellowed. 
But when Black Bruin sought to carry off 
the calf, she was back again fighting every 
inch of the ground and often causing him 
to abandon the carcass for a time. 

When she stood over the dead calf, lick- 
ing the blood from its wounds and caressing 
and nosing it, trying in her dumb way to 
bring it back to life, she was a pathetic pic- 
ture of wild motherhood, fighting and 
ready to fight to the end if need be for its 
offspring. 

Finally toward night she seemed to un- 
derstand that the calf was dead and no 
longer of value to her, so, after driving 
Black Bruin far from the spot, she aban- 
doned the fight and left him conqueror and 
in full possession of the field. 

When he had made sure that she had re- 
turned to the pasture, he dragged the calf 



218 Black Bruin 



far up the mountainside into his fastness 
and gorged upon it as long as it lasted. 

As the pasture in which Black Bruin had 
committed his depredation was a mile from 
the settler's house and not often visited ex- 
cept to salt the young stock kept in it, the 
real offender was not discovered, although 
it was apparent to the farmer that the 
heifer had been attacked by some wild 
beast. The rains, however, had so obliter- 
ated the signs that it is doubtful if he could 
have read them rightly, even had he discov- 
ered the scene of the battle. 

About a week later Black Bruin was 
climbing the mountainside on the way to 
his fastness when the wind brought him a 
new scent that he had sometimes smelled 
before, but what to attribute it to he had 
never known. The scent was very strong 
and Black Bruin knew that the intruder of 
his domain was near at hand. At last he 
made out a dim gray shape, near the trunk 



The King of the Mountain 219 

of a tree. Its color so blended with its 
surroundings that he might not have 
noticed it at all, had it not been for two 
yellow phosphorus eyes that glowed full at 
him. 

The creature was about the size of a 
large raccoon, but it was no raccoon. Its 
head was large and round, and surmounted 
by long ears with hairy tassels at the end. 
Its forearm was longer and stronger than 
that of a raccoon and the tail was short 
and not much of an ornament. 

Whatever the animal was, it was small 
and possibly good to eat, so Black Bruin 
made a rush at it ; but quick as he was, he 
was not half as quick as the lynx, which 
with a snarl and a spit scratched up the 
tree in a manner that made the bear's own 
accomplishments at tree-climbing look 
mean indeed. So the stranger could climb 
trees? Well, so could Black Bruin. Up 
he scratched after it. He would follow it 



22o Black Bruin 



to the top and then bat it off with his 
paw. 

When the cat had nearly reached the top 
of the tree, it turned around and looked 
back. Its enemy was close upon it and 
something heroic must be done. 

The cat measured the distance to a tree- 
top forty or fifty feet farther down the 
mountainside ; then the top of the tree in 
which it squatted sprang back and the gray 
form shot through the air and alighted 
gracefully in the distant tree-top. 

It was a great jump, and so astonished 
Black Bruin that lie forgot to be furious at 
seeing his game escape. 

This was his first experience with a 
Canadian lynx, but he saw them often, once 
he had learned their ways. He discovered 
that they too were fishermen, and hunters 
of small game. He often found them 
hunting upon his preserves, but their broad 
paws fell so lightly upon the forest carpet 



The King of the Mountain 221 

and their gray forms were so unobtrusive 
in the woods that he did not often come to 
close quarters with them. 

A few days later, one evening, just at 
twilight, when Black Bruin was prowling 
cautiously after a deer family, consisting of 
a buck, two does, and three fawns, he made 
the acquaintance of another cat, much 
larger and more supple than the lynx. 

The deer were moving slowly from point 
to point, browsing as they went, when sud- 
denly from the tree-tops, fell a long lithe 
figure. 

So swift and terrible was its coming that 
the doe upon whom it sprang was borne to 
the ground. The great cat did not wait for 
it to recover, but with claw and fang soon 
throttled it, while the rest of the herd fled 
at a breakneck pace, their white flags up. 

Here was game already killed. The 
great cat was not over a third as heavy as 
Black Bruin. It would doubtless run 



222 Black Bruin 



away at his approach as did everything 
else. 

So thought the bear as he rushed in to 
take the kill from the cougar, but he had 
reckoned without his host. 

The panther was so intent upon its own 
game that it did not notice the approach of 
the bear until the rival hunter was within 
thirty feet of the prize. Then it wheeled 
about and was instantly transformed into a 
demon. Its tail lashed its sides, its fangs 
were bared in the ugliest snarl that Black 
Bruin had ever faced and its eyes fairly 
blazed. 

Black Bruin backed off a few feet to get 
a better look at the terrible stranger. He 
had not expected opposition and such 
effrontery was new to him. 

But the panther continued to lash her 
sides with her tail and to glare and snarl, 
so the bear circled about and about, trying 
to get behind his adversary. Finally, see- 



The King of the Mountain 223 

ing that the panther had no notion of giv- 
ing up the kill, the bear went in search of 
other game. 

But he was not afraid of the great cat, 
only astonished and curious. He knew 
quite well that the deer did not belong to 
him and this may have kept him from 
picking a quarrel. 

If he had met the cat in any of the forest 
highways and it had disputed his right to 
any of the privileges of the ancient woods, 
he would have given battle. So he was 
still the king of the mountain, although he 
had left the cat in full possession of the 
deer. 

Spring and summer came and went. The 
blueberries ripened in the pastures and 
scant clearings, and the blackberries along 
the edge of the woods. All the native 
roots that Black Bruin knew so well grew 
in abundance. 

Occasionally he stole from the distant 



224 Black Bruin 



settlements, as the king of the mountain 
had a right to do, or went farther into the 
wilderness where the hunting and fishing 
were better. Several times he ran across 
White Nose and her two fuzzy cubs, but 
they did not have much to do with each 
other until autumn came around. 

Finally the first frosts came, and the 
waiting forest shook out its scarlet and 
crimson and golden banners, and many 
water-grasses and weeds took on quite bright 
colors, for such humble plants. 

One moonlight night in October, when 
the air had begun to be clear and crisp, and 
the sky was so studded with stars that it 
seemed as if there was not room for even 
one more, a strange and lordly company 
came stalking into the land of the king of 
the mountain. They were gray, dim, 
spectral shapes and new to the region. 

They may have been looking for feed- 
ing grounds, or perhaps the autumn rest- 



The King of the Mountain 225 

lessness was upon their leader, who was 
a giant of his kind,— a broad-antlered bel- 
ligerent bull moose, ready at this season of 
the year to fight anything and everything 
that crossed his path. 

The first time Black Bruin saw the new- 
comers he was digging roots along the edge 
of a shallow pond. He was also keeping a 
sharp lookout for frogs, clams, or almost 
any small crustaceans. 

Presently he noticed a commotion out in 
the middle of the pond, which was only 
about an acre in extent. Then a great 
head, surmounted by a massive set of horns, 
came up out of the water and Black Bruin 
saw that the strange creature had his mouth 
full of lily-bulbs and water-grasses. Soon 
the huge head disappeared again, and after 
a few seconds reappeared, bringing up more 
lily-pads. 

For half an hour Black Bruin watched 
the stranger diving and reappearing. Then 



226 Black Bruin 



the great beast swam ashore, shook himself 
and went crashing off through the woods, 
his hoofs keeping time in a rhythmic clack, 
a-claek, clack. 

When he had disappeared Black Bruin 
advanced to the spot where he had come 
ashore and smelled his track. It was not 
like anything that he had ever smelled be- 
fore, and somehow the scent made him 
angry. This lordly monster was invading 
his preserves. No one but him had a right 
to hunt or fish, or to eat roots in this region. 
So Black Bruin followed the trail of the 
moose, half curious and half angry. 

He had not gone a quarter of a mile 
when he came up with the bull, who was 
rubbing his antlers upon the branches of a 
low tree. 

Black Bruin watched him for several 
moments, until a puff of wind carried the 
telltale scent to the moose, who is most 
wary and watchful. 



The King of the Mountain 227 

The moose threw up his head, gave a 
loud snort and blew his breath through his 
nose with a whistling sound, then crashed 
off through the forest. This fact led Black 
Bruin to surmise that he was afraid of him, 
and nearly resulted in his undoing. 

The following day, he discovered the 
broad-antlered stranger browsing upon a 
small tree that was bent down under his 
foreleg. There were two other tall, gaunt 
creatures, also feeding near, and two small 
animals of the same kind. These were two 
cow-moose and their calves. Altogether it 
was quite an imposing family party. 

Black Bruin watched them curiously 
for a time, until finally the bull scented 
him, and came charging through the 
bushes. 

This both astonished and angered the 
bear, but seeing how large and formidable 
the stranger was, and how fearlessly he 
came on, Black Bruin sneaked away 



228 Black Bruin 



through the bushes into some very thick 
cover and bided his time. 

It came a few days later. He was pok- 
ing under the dead leaves for beechnuts, 
when he noticed the herd passing at a dis- 
tance. The two cows and the calves were 
apparently alone, and one of the calves 
was straggling far behind the rest. For 
several days the blood-lust had been strong 
upon Black Bruin, and here was his op- 
portunity. So he began stalking the calf 
warily. The wind was in his favor and in 
half an hour he had worked around within 
striking distance. 

He first peered all about to see that the 
bull was not in sight, and then made a 
sudden rush upon the calf. But awkward 
as it looked, the calf was agile, and nearly 
eluded him, merely receiving a raking blow 
across the shoulder, w r here Black Bruin 
had intended to break its neck. Terrified 
and stung with excruciating pain, it ran 



The King of the Mountain 229 

hither and thither, bleating and making a 
great outcry. 

But Black Bruin was not the hunter to 
let his prey get away if he could help it, 
so he pursued the calf hotly and soon 
landed another blow that stretched it upon 
the ground. He was so intent upon his 
own game, that he did not notice the 
cyclone bearing down upon him. 

Suddenly the broad-antlered monster was 
above him, striking with terrible cutting 
hoofs, which ploughed deep furrows in his 
shaggy coat and cut deeper gashes. Almost 
before he knew it, he had been knocked 
down and was rapidly being trampled to 
death. 

The only thing that protected him was 
his fat. He was so rotund and so covered 
with thick layers of fat, that he slipped 
about under the fearful cutting hoofs. 

He struck out viciously, laying open one 
of the bull's forelegs, but without avail. 



230 Black Bruin 



In another minute his fate would have 
been sealed, had not a deliverer come at 
the right second. 

Suddenly, from out the bushes near at 
hand, charged another bull moose, bellow- 
ing frightfully as he came. He was 
not coming primarily to Black Bruin's 
assistance, but to do battle with the first 
bull. One of the cows by right was his, 
and he proposed to claim his rights, and 
battle for them like the knights of old. 

Hearing the challenge and seeing a rival 
near at hand, the moose left his victim and 
charged furiously at the newcomer, while 
Black Bruin limped painfully into the 
bushes, feeling that he had found out 
something about the genus moose that it 
was well to remember. 

He did not fully recover from his maul- 
ing until he went into winter quarters. 

The following spring when Black Bruin 
came forth from hibernation, he made a 



The King of the Mountain 231 

trip to a distant lake where the moose 
were often to be found. He had no mind 
to molest them, but he did want a certain 
root which grew only there. 

He went directly to the little pond where 
he had first seen the bull moose, and had 
arrived within a few rods of the shore when 
his keen ear caught a slight sound. It was 
a sound of pain, half-groan and half-moan. 
Something was in distress. Distress in the 
wilderness usually means a good dinner for 
some one, so Black Bruin crept cautiously 
forward. Soon the wind brought moose- 
scent to the bear's nostrils and he was filled 
with fear and tempted to flee, but still he 
could hear deep groans and sighs. Coming 
to the edge of the water he peered out 
through the bushes and discovered the 
mighty moose helpless and impotent, 
mired in a treacherous spring bog. His 
legs were entirely buried in the mud, 
which came up on his sides. He was 



232 Black Bruin 



covered with foam and sweat, and so 
weak with thrashing and wrenching, that 
he could hardly hold up his great head. 

At the sight, hate glowed hot in the small 
red eyes of Black Bruin. It was this mon- 
ster who had so beaten and humiliated 
him. Now he would punish him, so he 
crept cautiously forward. 

But the strong wind blew the moose-scent 
in his nostrils and fear kept him at bay. 
Finally the moose also scented the bear and 
made frantic efforts to free himself, feeling 
that he was now helpless and at the mercy 
of all ; but his efforts were futile and he laid 
his head wearily down in the mud when he 
had ceased struggling. 

For a whole day Black Bruin watched 
him, before he could overcome his fear ; 
then he crept cautiously out and sprang 
upon the bull's rear. The great brute was 
by that time so spent that he hardly moved 
while Black Bruin lacerated his flanks. 



The King of the Mountain 233 

The only sign of pain that he gave was ex- 
pressed in deep groans and sighs which 
seemed fairly to come from his breaking- 
heart. 

Soon the conqueror crept along the back 
to his neck, and biting and striking at the 
vertebrae, quickly extinguished the strong 
life in the great frame and the huge head 
gradually sank in the mire. For several 
days Black Bruin came and gorged himself 
upon the carcass and did not desist until it 
had entirely disappeared in the bog. 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE BEAR WITH A COLLAR 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE BEAR WITH A COLLAR 

It may interest the reader to know just 
how Black Bruin looked in this, his seventh 
year, when he had acquired his full stature, 
which was enormous for a black bear. 

The California grizzly occasionally reaches 
a thousand pounds, while the enormous 
brown Kadiak bears, the largest carnivorous 
animals in the world, reach two thousand 
pounds ; but the black bear usually aver- 
ages about two hundred. Black Bruin had 
far outstripped all his contemporaries in 
size and prowess. In the fall of his seventh 
year he weighed upon the scales four 
hundred and two pounds, which fairly 
earned him the title of King. 

His coat was long, thick, and glossy and 
black in color. 



238 Black Bruin 



He was not as high upon the shoulders as 
one might expect for so large a beast. A 
wolf that stands thirty or thirty-two inches 
at the shoulder will weigh one hundred 
and twenty-five pounds and is a large wolf. 
Black Bruin was probably thirty-five or 
forty inches high at the shoulder, but con- 
siderably higher in the middle of the back, 
which also sloped off at the rear, where he 
was quite rotund. His tail was so insignif- 
icant as to be hardly noticed at all at a dis- 
tance. His head was rather small for so 
large an animal. His eyes were also small 
and looked weak. His claws, which were 
non-retractile, were not rakishly long as are 
the grizzly's, but protruded slightly beyond 
the long hair upon his feet. 

So altogether Black Bruin was most im- 
posing for an eastern bear. He was sleek 
and well-groomed, with the exception of 
two or three months in the early summer 
when he shed his coat. 



The Bear With a Collar 239 

Living as he now did within easy reach 
of the abode of man, he went more and 
more often to the farmhouses and took toll of 
the farmers. His wariness in regard to men, 
which he had learned partly of White Nose 
and partly from sad experience, gradually 
wore away and his old life with Pedro helped 
him to forget how strange and fearful a crea- 
ture man is, when dealing with wild beasts. 

So while he came and went much more 
recklessly than he would otherwise have 
done, yet his knowledge of man's ways stood 
him in good stead. 

He knew that man was a creature of the 
day, doing his work in broad daylight, 
while the bear is a night prowler. He knew 
that at morning and evening man came and 
went from the fields to his den, where he 
always stayed at night. 

He knew at just what hours the man- 
beast would be sleeping, and when he would 
come forth and tend his creatures. He had 



240 Black Bruin 



often followed his own master in the old 
cubhood days at the farmhouse, from out- 
building to outbuilding, watching him do 
the morning chores. 

Man's thunder and lightning he also 
knew and feared more than all his other 
powers. Dogs he despised and he also 
hated them, for they often interrupted him 
in his thieving. 

One Sunday morning early in June 
Black Bruin had been prowling about a 
little Canadian village and had satisfied his 
appetite with a hen-turkey, which he had 
happened to discover sitting far from 
home. He was returning to his mountain, 
when, in crossing one of those broad paths 
in which men always traveled, he so far 
forgot his usual precautions as nearly to 
run into a team carrying a half-witted 
French boy to early mass, that was being 
celebrated in the little French Catholic 
church near by. 



The Bear With a Collar 241 

Upon seeing the enormous black bear at 
such close quarters, the boy's hair fairly 
stood up with fright and whipping up his 
horse he was soon at the church. Throw- 
ing the lines upon the horse's back, he 
bolted into the sanctuary, although mass 
was in progress, crying, " I see one deevil 
bar, as beeg as a mountain, I deed." 

Just as the boy entered the church, a 
large Newfoundland dog, which had fol- 
lowed one of the worshipers to mass and 
was waiting for his master upon the steps, 
like a good Catholic, became excited at the 
boy's frantic manner and bounded into the 
church after him. 

Seeing the great shaggy dog appear at 
the same instant that the boy announced 
his " deevil bar," in the dimly lighted 
church, the worshipers at once jumped to 
the conclusion that this was the " deevil 
bar " who had come to eat them all up, 
like the wolf in " Red Riding Hood." 



242 Black Bruin 



Women and children screamed and 
rushed for a farther corner of the 
church, while the more hysterical fainted. 
Even strong men were for a second 
startled. • 

But from his eminence at the altar 
Father Gaspard saw their mistake and soon 
reassured them. 

Meanwhile, the innocent cause of all the 
disturbance had been as much scared by the 
team as had the half-witted bo} 7 by him, 
and was making for the deep woods at his 
best pace. 

One night, early in July, Alec Pierre, a 
wood-chopper, came to the village with a 
startling story. He had been chopping two 
or three miles back in the heavy timber. 
His own home was closer to the primeval 
forest than any other of the many strag- 
gling farmhouses. 

He had taken his dinner, going and 
coming at morning and evening. Each 



The Bear With a Collar 243 

noon ho went to a cool spring which he 
knew of, to eat his lunch. 

This noon he had gone as usual, only 
to discover that some one had gotten ahead 
of him. There by the spring, sitting upon 
his haunches, was an enormous black bear. 
In his paws he was holding the coffee- 
bottle, looking at it intently, while his 
countenance plainly bespoke satisfaction 
with the discovery. 

While the woodsman was wondering 
what was the best thing to do, the bear 
raised the bottle to his mouth, and biting 
upon the cork with his teeth, pulled it out. 
Then he put the nose of the bottle in his 
mouth and drank the contents with as 
much ease as if he had been the real 
owner. 

" I so scart I jes' stan' there an' say 
nutting. He eat my doughnut, he eat my 
pie. He act jes' like folks. Pretty soon I 
keep on looking some more an' I see down 



244 Black Brain 



in his har, round hees neck one peeg collar, 
jes' like a dog. 

" Heem one beeg deevil. I so scart 
when he drink out uv de bottle, I no say 
nutting. He eat my pie, I no say nutting. 
I 'fraid he take my gun by the tree an' shoot 
me. By gar. 

" By and by he go way and I go up an' 
look. Perhaps I t'ink I been dreaming. 
So I pinch my lage an' it hurt, an' then I 
look aroun' an' there bar-track beeg as 
snow-shoe. 

" Eet so queer I t'ink heaps an' heaps. 
Then pretty soon I t'ink he some pucldy 
tame bar run away. He break he chain. 
That why heem collar. I say to myself, 
no chain, no collar. 

"Heem one tame bar run away. He 
know how do treeks. I catch heem in one 
small log-house I beeld. When circus 
come round next week, or two, I seel 
heem get pig money." 



The Bear With a Collar 245 

Those villagers who listened to Alec's 
tale agreed that his reasoning was good, but 
most of them characterized the story as one 
big lie, and thought no more of it. But 
not so Alec. He had seen that day in the 
wood the most wonderful sight of his life, 
a bear eating like folks, and he could not 
get out of his head the idea that the 
capture of that bear meant a fortune to the 
trapper who should accomplish the feat. 

Perhaps, there was also some superstition 
linked with his curiosity, for nearly all 
Canucks are superstitious ; but at any rate 
the very next day he set about building the 
trap that should capture the " deevil bar," 
and make him a rich man. 

The trap upon which Alec relied for the 
capture of Black Bruin was a pen-trap. It 
was made in the following manner: 

Alec looked about until he discovered 
four trees, growing in two pairs ten or 
twelve feet apart. These sets of pillars were 



246 Black Bruin 



to be the four corners of the trap. He then 
set to work to cut small logs eight or ten 
inches in diameter. These were a couple 
of feet longer than the pen was to be and 
were built up one above another on the in- 
side of the pillars, being held in place 
against the trees by strong stakes driven 
deep into the ground. 

In this manner the two sides and the 
back end of the pen-trap were formed. 
The top was covered with poles, weighted 
down with stones. The trap-door, which 
was at the front, was made of plank and 
slid up and down in a groove. When it 
was raised, it was held in place by a cord 
which passed over the top of the pen-trap 
and down on the back side, finally attach- 
ing to a trigger connecting with a spindle 
inside the pen, at the farther end. The 
bait was to be placed on this spindle and a 
tug upon it would let go the trap-door. As 
this was weighted with stones, it came down 



The Bear With a Collar 247 

with a bang and anything unfortunate 
enough to be inside was caught in a prison 
of great strength. 

It took Alee two days to build the trap, 
and when it was finished he carefully re- 
moved all chips and traces of his carpen- 
tering. 

Usually a bear will not go near anything 
so new and apparently man-made as a 
green pen-trap. So Alec did not expect 
success for several days. In the meantime 
he took pains to bait Black Bruin and keep 
him in the vicinity by placing near the 
spring meat and other food, that his woods- 
man's instinct told him would be ap- 
preciated by a hungry bear. He did not 
forget an occasional bottle of coffee. Al- 
though he did not see the bear again for 
several days, yet the meat and the coffee 
always disappeared, which was pretty good 
evidence that he was near by. 

Black Bruin heard Alec hacking and 



248 Black Bruin 



hewing at the trap, but did not consider it 
anything out of the ordinary. This queer 
creature was always hacking and hewing 
at the trees. He had often seen his handi- 
work piled up in long straight piles. Once 
for mere amusement he had scattered a pile 
in every direction. 

When he at last came suddenly upon the 
pen-trap one day, after it had been baited 
for some time, he gave a surprised grunt 
and backed off a few feet to get a better 
view. It looked very queer and very sus- 
picious. He was quite sure that it had not 
been there a week ago, for he was well 
acquainted with the region. 

It was made of trees, but trees usually 
grew upright, and they always had limbs 
upon them. The ends of the logs were 
hacked and green like the sticks in the 
wood-pile. 

Black Bruin circled around and around 
the pen-trap, gradually drawing nearer and 



The Bear With a Collar 249 

nearer to it. Finally he came close enough 
to peep in at the doorway. Inside it was 
rather dark, but at last he both saw and 
smelled the calf's head that hung from the 
spindle. Meat had also been rubbed about 
the doorway, which was most tantalizing, 
especially as Black Bruin had not had any 
for three days. 

He licked the particles of meat that still 
stuck to the logs about the doorway and 
then started to go in, but it seemed dark 
and suspicious ; beside there was a very 
faint suggestion of man-scent inside. Out- 
side the rain and the wind had obliterated 
all foreign scents. Man-scent meant dan- 
ger. Man w r as no friend of the wild crea- 
tures, so Black Bruin backed out and very 
reluctantly went away. 

When Alec visited his trap the next day, 
he did not go near enough to see the bear- 
tracks in the fresh dirt about the door, for 
he did not care to leave fresh man-scent in 



250 Black Bruin 



its vicinity ; so he was rather discouraged 
with the failure of his efforts. The trap 
had now been set for a week and nothing 
apparently had been near it. 

The next da} r Black Bruin again visited 
the trap, but his suspicions were still keen 
and as he had killed a wood-chuck that 
morning, his appetite was not ravenous, so 
he again left the bait untasted. 

The third time that he came near the 
spot, which somehow had a fascination for 
him, he smelled a new and bewitching odor, 
one that a bear is almost powerless to resist. 
It brought back to his mind that old tan- 
talizing picture of the row of white beehives 
in the back yard of the farmhouse. 

The scent made his mouth drip saliva, 
and his manner, which a moment before 
had been suspicious and guarded, was now 
eager and full of curiosity and impatience. 

He went at once to the doorway of the 
pen-trap and thrust in his head. It was as 



The Bear With a Collar 251 

he had thought, — the ravishing scent came 
from inside. 

He sniffed several times and with each 
whiff of the honey became more impatient. 
There, dangling from the spindle, was a 
section of the coveted sweet. 

Black Bruin stepped inside and stretched 
out his muzzle toward the honey ; then he 
detected a man-scent about the frame that 
he had not noticed before. He backed out 
and the hair rose on his neck. 

He then smelled all about the sides of 
the pen. There was no suggestion of man- 
scent there. Again he returned to the 
honey. 

The taint about that was certain, but the 
honey almost drove him frantic. So with 
a sudden motion he snatched the coveted 
prize in his mouth and gave a hard tug at 
it. He would seize it before the man-scent 
bad power to injure him and then flee. 

But quick as were the motions of Black 



252 Black Bruin 



Bruin, the trap was quicker, for the 
moment the trigger was loosed, the cord let 
go the drop-door and down it came with a 
great bang. The bear was suddenly in 
darkness. 

With a loud "Uff" he dropped the 
honey and turned in the pen, but the door- 
way by which he had entered was closed. 
He sprang upon it with a growl and pushed 
with all his might, but he was pushing 
against the pillars, which were two trees 
nearly a foot in diameter, and he might as 
well have pushed against the side of a cliff. 

Then he whirled about and, seizing the 
spindle in his mouth, pulled violently upon 
it, but it availed him nothing. 

Then he assailed first one wall and then 
another in rapid succession. He tore the 
bark and also great pieces from the logs 
with his teeth, but the logs were thick and 
he merely strewed the inside of the trap 
with bark and splinters, leaving it still as 



The Bear With a Collar 253 

strong as ever. Then he braced crosswise 
upon the trap and tried to push the logs 
from their places. They gave a very little 
when he put forth his giant strength, but 
the effort was futile. 

Then he stood upon his hind legs and 
tried to reach the poles overhead with his 
paw, but the trap was too high for this. 

For hours he raged and tore at the logs 
which held him so effectively. He stripped 
the inside of the pen entirely free of bark, 
and littered the floor with a bushel of 
splinters ; but all his tearing and biting, 
pushing and straining, prying and growl- 
ing, availed him nothing. 

At last his great strength was worn out 
and in the place of rage at being restrained 
fear came over him. It was man that had 
done this thing. The scent on the honey- 
frame plainly said as much. He was again 
in the clutches of that dread creature. 

Now his fear grew tenfold. The giant 



254 Black Bruin 



lay down in a corner, as far as possible 
away from the honey that had cost him his 
freedom, and cowered like a whipped dog, 
with his head between his paws and fear 
clutching him like an awful force that he 
was powerless to resist. 

The following morning when Alec vis- 
ited his trap, he found to his great joy that 
it was sprung. Going up cautiously, he 
peeped through a crack between the logs. 
There was the gigantic black bear cowering 
inside. 

When Alec's eyes became accustomed to 
the gloom of the pen, he saw that the bear 
wore the heavy collar about his neck, al- 
though it was deeply imbedded in the fur, 
and at this assurance, Alec gave a shout of 
delight. 

" Heem, my deevil bar, sure enough," he 
exclaimed, and at the hated man-sound 
Black Bruin drew farther into his corner. 

That afternoon an ox-cart, bearing a 



The Bear With a Collar 255 

mammoth crate made of two by four tim- 
bers, came creaking into the woods and was 
backed up to the pen-trap. For an hour or 
so there was a sound of hammering while 
a plank-covered gangway was being built 
from the pen-trap to the strong crate. 

Then, to the great astonishment of Black 
Bruin, the door of the pen-trap slowly 
lifted, and the way to freedom seemed 
plain. 

With a sudden rush he scrambled up the 
gang-plank into the crate, and a second 
trap-door, as strong as that in the pen-trap, 
closed behind him and he was a prisoner in 
a new house. 

For a long time Black Bruin could not 
realize that he was still a prisoner. The 
light streamed in between the strong bars. 
He could see his captors all about him. 
They were three excited, gesticulating men, 
all dark, and to Black Bruin's eyes, sinis- 
ter-looking like Pedro. 



256 Black Bruin 



He put his paws between the bars and 
strained with all his might. 

They pounded his paws and prodded 
him to make him desist, but he did not 
mind their blows any more than he would 
those of a child. Freedom was so near at 
hand. The green woods, the sweet wild 
woods, his woods were all about him. 
The blue sky was above him. The fra- 
grant wind blew fresh through his prison- 
bars. 

It could not be that he was helpless 
so near to freedom. Presently these strong- 
bars would break and he would rush into 
the wilderness and flee far from the haunts 
of men. 

Then the slow and curious procession 
started. One of the men drove the cattle 
and the other two walked by the side of 
the crate, prodding and beating Black 
Bruin whenever he strained too frantically 
at the prison-bars. 



The Bear With a Collar 257 

Slowly they drew out of the woods with 
its long dark shadows and its aroma of pine 
and balsam. Gradually the forest with its 
dells and its thickets, its ferns and witch- 
hazel, its bird-song and its chattering 
squirrels, its sense of freedom and peace, 
was left behind and they emerged into 
dusty roadways bordered by fields of grass 
and grain. 

This was the habitat of man, his world, 
with which Black Bruin associated a chain 
and a collar, a sharp stick and curses and 
endless tricks. 

At last he ceased to struggle and strain 
and stood with his head at the rear of his 
cage, looking back at his vanishing world. 
Slowly the green plumes of the forest faded. 
Even the outline of the distant mountains 
was at last lost and the flat farmlands, 
dotted with farmhouses and carpeted with 
grain-fields, took its place. 

The old world and the old life were left 



258 Black Bruin 



far behind, and when the last blue hilltop 
faded, the heart went out of Black Bruin. 
He no longer exulted in his strength and 
his cunning, for man had again undone 
him. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE WRECK 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE WRECK 

For weary hours the ox-cart plodded 
along the country road, and at last the 
long shadows deepened into twilight and 
the stars came out and it was night, but 
still they journeyed on. 

The soft night-winds quickened into be- 
ing the fragrance of many a flower that had 
not been noticed in the full heat of day. 
But wind and fragrance, night and day- 
light were all the same to Black Bruin, 
for that which made the world beautiful, 
and his strong free life worth living, was 
gone. Freedom was no longer his, and he 
cowered upon the floor of his prison, laid 
his head between his paws, and acted more 
like a whipped puppy than the great strong 
brute that he was. 



262 Black Bruin 



Finally the ox-team drew up at a long, 
low building, and the men unloaded the 
crate upon a narrow platform. 

Here they were soon joined by another 
man who came from the building. 

" How long before the night freight ter 

H comes along, Bill ? " drawled one 

of the men in charge of Black Bruin. 
" Alec, here, has got a bar as big as a cow 
that he is a-takin' to the circus which'll be 

at H to-morrow. He don't want to 

miss it." 

" It's due now," replied the station-agent, 
and even as he spoke, the shrill whistle of 
the freight sounded in the distance. 

A little later Black Bruin heard a distant 
rumbling and clanging which was like 
nothing that he had ever heard before. 
Then there was a vibration of the solid 
floor under him, and the long, heavily 
loaded freight thundered down upon the 
little station. 



The Wreck 263 



As the hideous, clanging, shrieking, hiss- 
ing monster rushed down upon them, 
coming seemingly straight for the wooden 
crate, Black Bruin sprang against the bars 
with such violence that he nearly tipped 
it over, and gave his captors a great scare. 

In a very few minutes, however, the 
crate, together with the other freight, was 
hustled into an empty car, and the train 
pulled out and went thundering away into 
the darkness. 

At first the motion made Black Bruin 
very uneasy, and he walked to and fro 
continually ; but finally this was succeeded 
by his being car-sick, and he was soon glad 
to lie down and keep very still for the rest of 
the journey. 

This was his first night upon a freight 
train, but it was not his last, for ahead of 
him was a strange and turbulent existence. 
He Avas going to the great city to join the 
circus, to be a part of that astonishing pro- 



264 Black Bruin 



cession which annually parades the streets 
of our large cities, and which draws crowds, 
such as does no other entertainment. 

Toward morning, after having made 
several stops, the car in which Black Bruin 
was a passenger was side-tracked, and a 
large, gilded wagon, known to the small 
boy as a circus-van, was backed up to it. 
Then the crate was placed against the 
cage on the van, and both doors were 
opened. 

The new prison looked much more 
fragile than that in which Black Bruin 
was. The bars were very small and might 
be easily broken. It was lighter, too, than 
his present abode, so after a little poking 
and punching, the captive went into the 
other prison, and a moment later, when he 
turned about to look for the doorway by 
which he had entered, it was closed and 
the wooden crate was being taken away. 
Man had again outwitted him, but the 



The Wreck 265 



manner in which he was now confined 
seemed very insecure to Black Bruin. He 
would soon either find a way out, or else 
make one. With this in view, he went 
about the cage several times, sniffing and 
poking his nose between the bars. He put 
his powerful arms between two of the bars 
and strained upon them with all his 
enormous strength, but they did not seem 
to give at all. Then he sought to grind 
one to splinters between his teeth, but in- 
stead he broke a tooth, and the effort made 
him see stars. 

What new and amazing substance was 
this, which could not be bent or broken, or 
even bitten into? The more Black Bruin 
pushed at the iron bars of his cage, the 
fainter grew that spark of hope which is 
the mainspring of all life, until at last he 
ceased to hope altogether, and bowing to 
the inevitable, no longer sought to be free. 
Sullenly he glared at the gaping crowds 



266 Black Bruin 



that passed his cage daily, and the only 
thing to which he looked forward was his 
food. This he received each day at about 
noon. 

What it all meant, he could not imagine. 
The great crowds, the blare of bands, the 
gala dress and the babel of voices all re- 
minded him of the country fairs that he 
had often attended with Pedro, in the old 
dancing-bear days. 

The long journeys by rail he soon got 
used to, so that he was no longer sick, but 
it was a weary existence. The snap and 
rattle of car-wheels was continual^ in 
his ears, and if it was not that, it was the 
rattle and the rumble of heavy wheels 
over paving-stones, the noise of the brazen- 
throated circus-band, or the high and in- 
sistent calliope. Noise, noise, noise every- 
where. 

When the animals were fed, there was 
the roaring of the lions, the snapping and 



The Wreck 267 



snarling of wolves, jaguars, pumas, and the 
hideous laugh of the hyena ; the chattering 
of the monkeys, and the piping and croak- 
ing of strange, tropical birds. And, more 
insistent than any of these, the bellowing 
of the sacred cattle from India, and the 
belling and bleating of strange deer, not to 
mention the cavernous trumpeting of 
elephants when their keepers prodded them 
into obedience. 

There is but one law in the circus, and 
that is the law of fear. All the wild 
beasts are ruled by it alone. The tricks 
that the great cats do are clubbed into 
them, and the elephants' ears are often so 
torn by the trainer's iron that they hang in 
ribbons. 

It is only with the domestic animals, like 
the horses and the trick-dogs, that the 
trainer can exercise gentle persuasion. So 
in this great arena, this bedlam of wild 
beasts, were often heard the blows of club 



268 Black Bruin 



and lash, and the sharp report of pistols 
fired in the faces of unruly big cats. 

How the two mammoth tents, covering 
many acres, and a dozen smaller ones came 
and went was a mystery to the general 
circus-goer. In the forenoon they went 
up like white mountains, and in the even- 
ing, almost before the last spectator had 
left his seat, they began to come down. 
Sometimes in half an hour after the last 
whistle had sounded, the tents and all the 
circus paraphernalia were packed in wagons 
and rumbling off to the depot. It was a 
life of hustle and bustle, jostle and push, 
here to-day, and a hundred miles away to- 
morrow. 

The small boy, who was up before the 
first pale streak of light appeared in the 
east, and off to the freight-yards to see the 
four or five long circus trains come in, 
could have told you something about the 
marvelous way in which circus-men handle 



The Wreck 269 



their strange caravan. There was always a 
crowd of these enterprising urchins stand- 
ing wide-eyed and with gaping mouths, 
while the circus wonders were being un- 
loaded. 

They could have told } r ou that the great 
gaudy vans were loaded on a train of flat 
cars, and that a single horse working a rope 
and pulley-block trundled the vans from the 
train nearly as fast as their respective team- 
sters could hitch horses to them and drive 
away. These boys knew that the stake and 
chain wagon was always the first to leave 
the train. Some of them usually fell in 
behind it and followed to the circus grounds, 
for it was good sport to see men with heavy 
sledge-hammers drive the many stakes and 
stretch the long chain which formed the 
perimeter of the mammoth tent, and 
behind which all the vans would ultimately 
take their places. 

After the stake and chain wagon, came 



270 Black Bruin 



wagons bearing the cooking and dining 
tents, for breakfast is a most important 
matter when you have five hundred hungry 
people to feed. By nine o'clock the vast 
concourse were all on the circus ground, 
breakfast was over and preparations for the 
great parade were on foot. Nearly every- 
thing in the circus, with the exception of 
the side-shows, had to take part in the 
parade. 

Only the small boy, who stands upon 
the pavement, holding to lamp-post or 
iron hitching-post to steady himself in the 
wild excitement, can tell you how his heart 
races and his blood leaps as the first gilded 
chariot swings around the corner into the 
main street. Thoughts of this moment 
have been in the bov's mind for weeks, and 
the realization is always greater than his 
anticipation. No matter if it is a small one- 
horse show r , the hallucination of paint and 
tinsel, and gleam and glitter are there, and 



The Wreck 271 



what a concourse it is ! To get together, 
this strange medley of men and women, 
beasts, birds and reptiles, the ends of the 
earth have been scoured. All Asia, from 
Siberia to India is there. Africa is repre- 
sented from the Nile to Cape Town. The 
steppes of Russia and every out-of-the-way 
corner of Europe have been visited by the 
agents of the showman, and the result is 
legion. South America, with the wonders 
of the Amazon and the pampas and the 
high fauna of the Andes, is there. Our own 
continent also contributes largety, for the 
Rockies and the Selkirks still hold wonders 
for the eyes of youth. Even if we could 
contribute no wild beasts, there would still 
be ample reward for the boy in viewing 
our Indians, cow-punchers and real live 
scouts, such as our border-life alone can 
furnish. 

It was as a feature of such a motley 
procession as this that Black Bruin's van 



272 Black Bruin 



was daily rattled over the paving-stones 
and finally took its place each day in the 
mammoth tent behind the chain, in readi- 
ness for the noon feeding. His van always 
followed that of a den of gray timber wolves 
and was in turn followed by the great white 
polar bear. 

Black Bruin often wondered why his 
large cousin from the Arctic Circle spent so 
much of his time swaying to and fro. It 
was a queer trick that he had, whenever 
he was not in his tank of water, of forever 
swaying back and forth, back and forth. 
Black Bruin often felt fairly frantic him- 
self, and would pace to and fro for hours, 
but he could see no relief in this continual 
swaying. 

Although he had been sold to the circus- 
agent as a trick-bear, who could take stop- 
pers out of bottles and do other marvelous 
tricks, yet he was so morose during the 
first summer of his circus life that the 



The Wreck 273 



keeper could do nothing with him as a 
trick-bear; so he merely paraded as one 
of the wild beasts. 

Men, women and little children came 
and went in front of his cage by the thou- 
sands and ten thousands. Often the keeper 
would reach in with a stick and poke Black 
Bruin to make him growl, for this amused 
the children. He soon learned what, was 
expected of him, and would growl almost 
before the stick touched him. 

In the hot, stifling summer days, when 
his cage seemed so cramped and unendur- 
able, how Black Bruin thirsted for the 
woods, he alone knew. Sometimes he 
would fall asleep and dream of the old 
free life, only to wake to the torment of 
his prison-bars. 

There was but one incident during the 
first year of Black Bruin's circus life that 
is worth mentioning. The circus was 
showing in a fair-sized city in Northern 



274 Black Brain 



New York, in St. Lawrence River County. 
The day was exceptionally warm, the crowd 
was unusually large and the torment of 
captivity was unusually galling to the wild 
beasts. 

Black Bruin was restless and paced to 
and fro in his cage, and sniffed its bars 
more often than usual. 

Suddenly from out the babel about him 
a voice spoke that fell pleasantly on his 
ear and in the sound was something that 
he remembered. When the voice ceased 
speaking, some psychological reaction 
slipped a slide in the brute mind, the 
impression of which had been gained many 
years before, and the great bear saw, as 
plainly as he had seen it then, the farm- 
house with the chicken-coops in the front 
yard, and ducks, geese, turkeys and hens 
all moving about over the green turf. 
There was the barn and the outbuildings 
and the long low hen-house where he had 



The Wreck 275 



so often robbed the hens' nests. Then the 
scene shifted slightly and the dreamer saw 
the orchard at the back of the farmhouse 
with its gnarled and twisted trees and the 
row of little white houses in the shade 
near by. " Hum, hum, zip — hum," went 
the bees flying in from their long quest 
afield in search of the heart secret of the 
floral world. But whether it was the 
droning of bees or the hum of many 
voices that he heard Black Bruin could not 
tell. 

At this point in his reverie he looked 
through his bars at three of the circus- 
goers who were evincing peculiar interest 
in him. These were a man, a woman, and 
a boy of about nine years. 

" What a fine bear," the man was say- 
ing ; " much larger than the old female 

that I shot on that " But the man 

did not finish the sentence, for noticing 
the pallor that crept into his wife's face 



276 Black Bruin 



at his words and the shiver that ran 
through her frame, he desisted. 

" Look here, sonny," he continued to 
the boy, " if we had been able to have 
kept Black Bruin until now he would 
probably have looked just about like this 
old chap. What do you think of that? " 

"Whew," whistled the boy. " Ain't he 
a monster ? Our bear wasn't more than a 
quarter as big." 

" No," replied the man. " That was 
because he was not grown, but he was a 
fine cub when we let the peddler have 
him. I have often wondered what became 
of him." 

" Wasn't Bar-bar cunning," exclaimed 
the boy, " when he was a little fuzzy 
fellow and I used to roll about with him 
on the floor and pull his ears, just like 
the photograph you had taken of us." 

"Come, John, let's look at some of the 
other animals," said the boy's mother. 



The Wreck 277 



" Bar-bar was all right, but it gives me the 
shivers to look at a full-grown black bear 
like this." So the three moved on to the 
wolf- den. 

Black Bruin sniffed the bars of his cage 
where the man's hand had rested upon it 
for a moment, as the three moved away. 
The man-scent too awoke strange memories 
which he could not understand. It was 
like coming upon a well-remembered spot 
in a stream where he had once captured a 
large salmon, or some burrow under a 
stump where he had dug out a luckless 
rabbit. But soon even the remembrance of 
the pleasant voices, that in some strange 
way suggested something dim and distant, 
was forgotten, the man-scent on the bars of 
his cage was obliterated, and Black Bruin 
was back in the old rut, bumping and 
thumping over paving-stones and seeing 
his van continually being rolled on or off 
the flat car which carried it. 



278 Black Bruin 



Finally the long hard trips were over for 
that season and the circus went into winter 
quarters. 

This winter Black Bruin did not hiber- 
nate as he usually did, but spent the time 
in a series of short naps. Each day he 
came forth from his improvised den to 
stretch and to eat. Toward spring, by dint 
of much coaxing and liberal rewards of 
sugar and honey, the keeper got upon good 
terms with him and finally discovered 
most of his tricks. 

When the next season opened, the 
prisoner found that he was to have a little 
more freedom and a rather more varied ex- 
istence than that of the year before. 

Upon the circus bills he appeared as 
Napoleon Bonaparte, the wonderful trick- 
bear ; and there was a striking and astonish- 
ing picture of him in the act of opening a 
bottle and drinking from it. 

Small boys stood spellbound before this 



The Wreck 279 



picture, and they were still more astonished 
when the real live bear was led into the 
ring and marched np and down with a 
wooden gun upon his shoulder, while the 
performance of his bottle-trick always 
created a rustle all over the tent. This was 
the surest sign of a great hit. 

So now each day, in addition to appear- 
ing in the grand cavalcade and the street- 
parade, Black Bruin had to come into the 
ring each afternoon and evening and go 
through his senseless tricks. 

The only thing that kept him good- 
natured and up to the mark, was the fact 
that his bottle was always filled with some 
pleasing drink, so he had that to look for- 
ward to after each performance of the trick. 
There were also sweets in waiting for him 
when he came out of the ring. 

Thus went the endless round. Here to- 
day and there to-morrow. In the evening 
a magic city of white tents would be seen 



280 Black Bruin 



upon the grounds, but by midnight all had 
been stowed away in four or five long 
trains, which soon were thundering over 
the rails to a distant city, where for the 
past three weeks posters had announced the 
coming of the circus. 

Thus the da} 7 s and weeks of Black 
Bruin's second year in the circus passed 
and they concluded the season at Nash- 
ville, Tennessee. Then all the parapher- 
nalia was loaded with even more care than 
usual, for they were off for the long trip 
northward, to their winter quarters. 

That night when they loaded the 
elephants and the trick-ponies, some of 
them hung back and refused to board the 
train, a tendency most unusual on their 
part ; but they finally obeyed the goad and 
lash and all were stowed away in their 
customary places. 

It was about midnight when the train 
bearing Black Bruin's van pulled out. 



The Wreck 28.1 



One by one the cars bumped over the 
switch and the long train got under way. 
At first the locomotive puffed and panted 
as though the load were too great for it, 
but finally the train got up momentum and 
the car- wheels sang their old song of rat-a- 
clat-rat-a-clat-rat-a~tat-tat, while the engine 
assumed its familiar song of 

u Bushing, pulling, snatch the train along, 
Tugging, pulling, locomotive strong." 

This is the song that a locomotive always 
sings when it is off for a long, hard pull. 

On, on through the darkness the train 
sped, the engine sending forth showers of 
sparks that twinkled in the gloom like fire- 
flies, and then went out. 

But the most conspicuous thing about the 
train was the headlight, which threw its 
long cylindrical shaft of light far ahead, 
like a mighty auger of fire boring into the 
darkness. No matter how hard the engine 



282 Black Bruin 



puffed and panted or how fast the drivers 
thundered over the rails, this bright cylin- 
der of light was always just so far ahead, 
illuminating the gleaming rails, flashing 
into deep cuts, lighting up cliffs and forest, 
and long stretches of open fields. 

Black Bruin was not asleep in his cage, 
as he usually was on long journeys like 
this. Somehow, he felt restless and ill at 
ease. He sniffed his bars often, but the 
heavy shutters were down and no sign of 
freedom was at hand. Yet in some un- 
accountable manner, the wind sucking 
through the cracks between the shutters 
blew fresher and sweeter than usual. It 
tasted of pine-woods and deep tangles of 
swamp-land, where all the roots that a bear 
likes grow. 

The train had left the low-lying lands 
far behind and was coming into the foot- 
hills — those friendly steps by which tired 
feet climb to the mountains above, It was 



The Wreck 283 



rushing down a steep grade, traveling by 
its own momentum, upon a rather precipi- 
tous pathway cut in a side hill, when some- 
thing happened. Perhaps it was a broken 
rail, or maybe a great boulder had toppled 
down the mountainside and lay upon the 
track ; but the important thing was that 
suddenly, without a second's warning, the 
engine bucked like a balky broncho, and 
after one or two mad plunges along the 
roadbed, toppled over the bank and rolled 
into the gulley below. At the first impact 
of the locomotive with the long train be- 
hind it, the freight arched its back and 
writhed and twisted like a mighty serpent. 
Three of the cars went over the bank still 
attached to the engine and the rest piled 
up on one another or rolled down into the 
gulley, as fate willed. There was crash 
upon crash and thunder upon thunder as 
the heavy cars piled in a frightful heap. 
There was the groan of iron and steel being 



284 Black Bruin 



bent and broken, and the crash and creak 
and crackle of breaking, grinding car- 
floors. 

When we add to this the roar of lions, 
the shrieking of horses, the trumpeting of 
elephants, the snarling and snapping of 
wolves, jaguars, hyenas and a chorus of 
other cries from the circus bedlam, the 
roar of steam as it escaped through an open 
valve in the locomotive, and the shriek of 
the whistle which blew continually, we can 
get some idea of the wreck, as the gorgeous 
splendor of the barbaric show was piled in 
ruins. 

It was such sights and sounds as these 
that greeted Black Bruin as he squeezed 
through the battered, broken door of his 
cage into freedom. He had felt himself 
rolling over and over. First he was upon 
the bottom of his cage and then standing 
upon the inverted roof. Three times he 
bumped from the top to the bottom and 



The Wreck 285 



back again in rapid succession. What did 
it mean? His van had never acted like 
this. 

It was all so quick that he merely 
emitted a frightened bawl or two and lay 
still, cowering in the corner of his cage. 
Then in some unaccountable way he became 
aware that his cage-door was open. His 
back was to it, but the wind that blew in 
upon him, was the wind of the woods and 
the waters, and not the stifling, filtered wind 
of his prison. 

As this sense was borne in upon him, 
Black Bruin lost no time in scrambling 
out through the opening. 

His first act on coming forth into the 
open air with the moon and the stars and 
the free sky above him, was to stretch. He 
then looked about him as though uncertain 
what was coming next. 

As he stood irresolute, looking first at 
the wreck and then away to the outline 



286 Black Bruin 



of a great mountain that stretched above 
him, seeming to reach up into the very 
heavens, the long, lithe form of a panther 
slipped by him and melted into the dark- 
ness. A moment later a jaguar followed 
it ; they were going back to freedom. 

Then Black Bruin stretched his nose 
high in air and sniffed the fresh untamed 
winds. They were sweet with the scent 
of the southern pine. Suggestions of the 
persimmon fruit were also there and the 
tantalizing odor of witch-hazel and other 
sweet scents that the bear knew not. There 
was a clump of underbrush just ahead and 
into it Black Bruin crashed. 

Weeds swished as he passed and the 
brush whipped his face. With bushes 
parting and grasses and weeds bending at 
his coming, the old sense of freedom came 
surging back to the escaped prisoner and 
he stretched out his strong muscles, which 
had been so long cramped in the cage, and 



The Wreck 287 



shuffled up the side of the mountain at his 
best pace. Through thickets and brambles 
he crashed with a wild exultation ; up 
precipitate crags he labored with feverish 
excitement and frenzy that grew with each 
moment. He sniffed at the rustling fronds 
and mosses as he passed, with wild delight. 
How fresh, how new, how satisf3 T ing the 
wilderness was ! 

Now racing through deep gulches, and 
now scrambling up steep bluffs with sheer 
delight of motion, he fled. 

At last the moon set and the stars faded 
and from the heart of the Cumberland 
Mountains, near the top of one of its most 
jagged and unfrequented spurs, Black 
Bruin beheld his first sunrise in southern 
skies. 

Slowly the east warmed and glowed 
until at last the golden disk mounted 
over the top of a twin peak and gilded 
the mountain upon which Black Bruin 



288 Black Bruin 



stood with a flood of golden sunlight. 
Birds began to twitter strange songs in 
the tree-tops and thickets and the high 
peak sang for joy at the sun's coming. 

At this auspicious moment, Black Bruin 
reared upon his hind legs and placing his 
forepaws high upon the trunk of a sentiue" 
pine, raked a deep scar in the bark. This 
was his hall-mark ; — the sign by which he 
took possession of the mountain and the 
surrounding lowlands, just as the dis- 
coverers did of old. 

This land was to be his, where he would 
dwell and seek his meat and mate, and 
live the life of a wild beast to the end of 
his days. 



Lb-Mi 



